The Hindu Business Line : Markets fail to sustain momentum

After a sharp rise this week, markets took a breather on Thursday as investors remained cautious and booked profits. Sensex, which rose over 275 points over the last three trading sessions, ended in the red losing 26 points. The larger Nifty too closed 9.3 points lower.

Though markets opened on a strong note, they failed to sustain the momentum, as investors appeared to be on a selling spree. Market breadth, though evenly divided, remained largely tilted in favour of declining stocks. Sixteen out of the 30 stocks constituting the BSE-30 shed value.

Sector Focus

While a large number of sectors sported bearish outlook, capital goods and consumer durables attracted buying interest. Praj Industries, TRF and Areva were notable gainers whose stocks advanced by 5.3 per cent on an average. Among stocks in consumer durables, Videocon Industries, TTK Prestige and Bajaj Electricals ended with strong gains. Mirroring the gains in these stocks, BSE Capital Goods and BSE Consumer Durables indices rose 1.2 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.

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Good show by media stocks

Select stocks from media and entertainment put up a smart show. Saregama India, TV Software, PVR, Mid-day Multimedia and Zee Telefilms, among others, witnessed hectic activity across their counters.

Mid-cap and small-cap

Compared to large-cap stocks, stocks from mid-cap and small-cap space fared better. Adlabs Films, IVRCL Infrastructures, Bank of Maharashtra, Alstom Projects and Godrej Industries among others recorded significant gains.

Large-cap stocks, which have run up sharply in the recent rally, succumbed to selling pressure. Satyam Computers, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Tata Motors, Cipla and Reliance Communications lost ground. A few that managed to negate the trend included Hero Honda, L&T, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and Grasim.

Adani Entertainment, Swaraj Mazda, Godrej Industries and Areva were among the stocks that hit the upper circuit during the day's trading.

Stocks from FMCG and healthcare space had a mixed response. Tata Tea, Colgate-Palmolive, Ruchi Soya and Henkel India recorded a modest rise, CCL Products, ITC, Godfrey Philips and Britannia exhibited weakness.

From pharmaceuticals and healthcare space, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma and Divi's Lab ended the day with moderate doses of gains. Novartis, Nicholas Piramal and Dishman Pharma, however, failed to buck the trend.

There was selective buying interest among banking stocks. IOB, HDFC Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank and Vijaya Bank added respectable gains, while UTI Bank, Union Bank, PNB and ICICI Bank ended in negative territory.

Stock-specific action

Tantia Constructions, which received an order worth Rs 158 crore from the Bihar Government for construction of road, reacted positively to the news flow. The stock rose 2.3 per cent at its close of Rs 166.3.

Gemini Communications flared up by 13.5 per cent following reports that the company had bagged an order worth Rs 20 crore for computerisation of villages from ELCOT.

Buoyed by news reports that it had received letter of intent from IOC for undertaking revamp operations at its refinery, Petron Engineering Construction added 3.2 per cent.