The Hindu Business Line : Markets bounce back; bank stocks gain

Markets witnessed yet another volatile trading session. Throughout the day the markets swung like a pendulum. Heavy selling in the past three-trading sessions, wiped off close to 975 points.

The news on the US Fed rate and value buying at lower levels aided the bulls to bounce back strongly on Wednesday and finally the bellwether Sensex ended the day with a gain of 186.32 points to 13181.34. Broader markets Nifty gained 1.3 per cent to 3765. BSE Mid-cap index gained 2 per cent followed by small-cap with 1.83 per cent.

Breadth of the market skewed towards advances and the advances to declines ratio favoured the former with 2:1. All the sectoral indices ended the day with gain except the FMCG.

Buzzing Stocks

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals surged Rs 36.6 to close at Rs 548.8 on the back of news that Glenmark Pharmaceuticals S.A (GPSA), the wholly owned Swiss subsidiary of the company, has applied for phase I clinical trials in Europe, for GRC 6211, its leading vanniloid receptor (VR1) antagonist compound for a range of pain indications like osteoarthritis, dental pain and urinary incontinence. The company hopes to complete phase-I by June 2007.

Reliance Industries gained 2.5 per cent on the back of news that company secured the Government's approval to double natural gas production from a field off the country's east coast. Other prominent gainers on the BSE were Moser Baer, Century Textiles, Reliance Communications, Bongaigaon Refineries and IOC.

Sector Focus

Among the sectoral indices, the banking space gained the maximum. Most of the stocks from this sector, which were hammered badly for the past few days found the support of the market participants. Union Bank of India surged 7.2 per cent to Rs 113.2. Punjab National Bank, which battered badly, had breather. Other prominent gainers were Andhra Bank, IOB, Karnataka Bank, Vijaya Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.

Kirloskar Brothers, which added Rs 37.4 , led the pack of gainers in capital goods space. Heavy weights such as Siemens and Bharat Electronics gained around 6 per cent. Some of the gainers from mid-cap space were Alstom Projects, Crompton Greaves and Jyoti Structures.

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Pharma sector considered being a safe bet on a volatile market added value. The BSE healthcare index gained 1.87 per cent. Divi's Laboratory surged by Rs 216 to close at Rs 2,720. Other gainers were Lupin, Dr. Reddy, Pfizer, Wyeth and Aurobindo Pharma. On a recovery day the ones that buck the trend were such as Matrix and Aventis Pharma.

Cementing Gains

Heavy weights in the cement space such as Grasim Industries, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and ACC ended the day in green. Strength was also visible in select mid-cap counters such as India Cements, Saurashtra Cement, JK Cements and Mangalam Cement. Ultratech Cement was the lone loser in the cement space.

Stock-Specific Action

L&T gained 1.9 per cent to Rs 1,420.7 on the back of news that L&T Infotech, subsidiary of the company, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire GDA Technologies Inc and all of its design centres in the USA and India.

Gainers and Losers

Zee Telefilms, HPCL, Suzlon Energy, Bharti Airtel and Unitech were among the winners in the Nifty. Gail, Sail, HLL, ONGC and Hero Honda were some of the losers.