The Hindu Business Line : Another volatile day of trading

It was yet another day of volatility at the bourses. Though the Sensex opened lower, buying in index pivotal stocks helped sustain the market. The Sensex oscillated close to 260 points during the day before it closed with a 45-point gain. Nifty too remained largely volatile and closed with a 0.47 per cent gain. Mixed signals from global markets failed to entice the Indian investor. The market breadth, nevertheless, favoured the bulls, with the advance-decline ratio pegged at 1.3:1. Auto and consumer durable stocks led the day's gain. Their respective BSE indices gained 1.85 per cent and 1.59 per cent during the day.

Buzzing stocks

Tech Mahindra hogged all the limelight on Thursday after it won a five-year outsourcing order worth $1 billion (approximately Rs 4,500 crore) from British Telecom. The stock surged 20 per cent to its all-time high on the back of strong volumes. RK Forgings, a small-cap stock notched up gains of about 19 per cent following volumes as high as 20 times its two-week average.

Mefcom Agro, Jai Corporation, Pioneer Embroideries and Karnataka Bank were among the scrips that hit new highs during the trading session. However, newly listed entities such as Daawat, Sobha Developers hit lows as investors booked profits.

Sector focus

Large-cap stocks remained volatile throughout the day. The Sensex pack, however, remained tilted in favour of the bulls, with 18 advances as against 12 declines. Among stocks that gained were Tata Motors, Reliance Energy and Bajaj Auto. Reliance Communication, which appreciated 3.5 per cent, gained on unconfirmed reports that the company had asked three leading banks to lend $15 billion for its Hutchison Essar bid. Stocks such as Gujarat Ambuja, ONGC and HDFC Bank, on the contrary, recorded loss for the day.

Select midcap stocks attracted investors' attention. The major gainers were NIIT, which surged about 20 per cent during the session, India Infoline and Tata Teleservices. Panacea Biotech, Havells India and Bhushan Steel were among the other counters that clocked gains. Moser Baer gained 11 per cent after it announced plans to foray into the entertainment industry through the Indian home video market.

RK Forgings, Kale Consultants and Nucleus Software were some of the small caps that attracted investors' fancy. However, Carol Info, Atlanta and Sonata Software were among the small-cap stocks that closed in the red.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Amtek Auto gained above 4 per cent each, while other stocks such as Escorts and Bajaj Auto notched up about 2 per cent gains. Maruti Udyog gained marginally on reports that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the sale of the Government's residual stake (10.27 per cent) in the company, which at current market price is expected to fetch the exchequer over Rs 2,700 crore.

Stock-specific action

KEC International gained 2.2 per cent after it secured four new orders worth Rs 151 crore from the international market.

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Dishman Pharmaceuticals recorded an intra-day gain of 1.9 per cent after it formed a joint venture with Takamul Investments Holding Company of Saudi Arabia.

Other gainers and losers

Titan Industries, Kew Industries, Maars Software, RS Software and Kopran were among the counters that gained for the day. Among the stocks that moved southward were i-Flex, Bayer Diagnostics, Bajaj Hindustan, Matrix Labs and IOB.