The Hindu Business Line : Infotech, bank stocks push up benchmarks

`Ring in the bulls' appeared to be the message from the Christmas chimes on Tuesday. While the market appeared cautious at the start of the trading session and was marginally positive, it gained confidence, as the day progressed. The strong positive market breadth was evident from the advancing stocks outnumbering the declines by a ratio of about 2:1 on the BSE. Tuesday's gain was the Sensex's biggest since December14.

All the indices on the BSE closed on a positive note with a good number of them gaining over 1.5 per cent. The BSE IT index was the biggest gainer among the sector indices followed by a strong rally by the banking index.

For the FIIs, December turned out to be a month of caution after an optimistic month in November. SEBI's data shows that overseas investors were net sellers to the tune of Rs 2,105 crore from December 1 to 22.

Buzzing stocks

ITC gained 2.9 per cent to Rs 174.5, after it announced plans to tie-up with Marubeni, Japan's fifth largest trading company. The alliance will give ITC access to the Japanese market for products such as fresh mangoes and also to Marubeni's storage and transport infrastructure.

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Buoyed by high volumes the stocks of IFCI, Essar Oil and Steel Authority of India witnessed a sustained rally. Stocks from the BSE 500 basket such as McNally Bharat, BF Utilities, Rajesh Exports and GVK Power & Infrastructure hit their upper circuit filter and remained strong until close.

Sector watch

The realty space was active with the stock of Ansal Properties and Infrastructure surging by 5 per cent to Rs 913.6. The stock rose after reports of the company tying with Fortis Healthcare for developing a medicity in Greater Noida. The company had earlier signed an agreement with the Uttar Pradesh Government for developing a high-tech city. Ansal Housing and Construction also rose by 5 per cent to settle at Rs 338.9. Both the stocks closed at the upper circuit filter. Newly listed Sobha Developers announced receipt of letter of intent from DELL India for construction of a manufacturing plant in Chennai. The stock however, remained flat.

The IT space witnessed much activity on Tuesday. Apart from heavyweights, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam Computer Services, stocks of i-Flex Solutions, Moser Baer and Hexaware Technologies moved northward.

Banking stocks made a smart rally. Oriental Bank of Commerce, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank gained over 2.5 per cent. Canara Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank moved upwards by 1.5-2 per cent.

Stock-specific action

Bharat Heavy Electricals added Rs 35.5 or 1.6 per cent to Rs 2,336.5. The power equipment maker plans to invest Rs 500 crore to expand its nuclear equipment production capacity and is in talks with global players such as Alstom, General Electric and Areva for tie-ups.

ONGC surged 2.6 per cent to Rs 8,881.1. The company plans to pay an interim dividend of 180 per cent for 2006-07. This is the highest-ever mid term dividend paid by the company.

Simplex Infrastructures surged 4.9 per cent to close at Rs 393.8. The company announced bagging orders aggregating to Rs 825 crore. Fifty per cent of the order intake comes from overseas projects.

Compulink System, KEC Infrastructures, Wartsila, SPL Industries and Shringar Cinemas were some of the significant gainers on the NSE. Atlanta, Eicher, LT Overseas and Bank of Maharashtra were conspicuous losers.

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