The Hindu Business Line : Inflation figure ignored; indices rise sharply

Taking cues from Mr Ben Bernanke's statement regarding likely slow down in US inflation and better growth rate of Japan aided the bulls to romp home on the final trading day of the week.

Despite high inflation rate, the markets viewed the Government's move to slash fuel prices as a positive sign of controlling the inflation.

Right from the opening the bulls set aside the CRR and other negative news. Markets gathered momentum as the day progressed and Sensex gained 345.65 points to touch 14,355.55.The broader markets Nifty missed the ton by a whisker to close the day at 4,146.2. The breadth of the markets was skewed in favour of bulls with four shares advancing against one declining. All the BSE sectoral indices closed the day in green. Mid- and small-cap index too participated in the rally.

New listing

It was a mixed day for the newly listed shares with House of Pearl Fashions going down while Redington was the star performer. House of Pearl, which priced its IPO at Rs 550 opened weak at Rs 500 but touched intra-day high of Rs 580.3 .The stock shed Rs 80.6 from the offer price and closed at Rs 469.4. Other stock Redington had a smooth sailing with the stock appreciating 45 per cent to its offer price of Rs 113 to end the day at Rs 163.25 with a volume of 2.64 crore shares.

Buzzing Stocks

Sugar stocks, which were bitter till other day, tasted the sweet on Thursday's trading on back of news that the mills are considering selling raw sugars for the first time to cut costs. The markets viewed positively this development and majority of the stock from the spectrum closed in the green. While Bajaj Hindusthan surged by 12.9 per cent, Balrampur Chini, Dhampur Sugar, Shree Renuka Sugars and Thiru Arooran Sugars all gained between 5 and 10 per cent. Among the Sensex Larsen & Toubro, Satyam Computers, Cipla, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and Bharti Airtel were among the prominent gainers in the large cap space. In mid cap space Bombay Rayon, Arvind Mills and Triveni Engineering were the star performers.

Sector Focus

Among the BSE sectoral Indices, the consumer durables gained 3.88 per cent with Gitanjali Gems leading the pack with a gain of 8 per cent. Other gainers were Blue Star, Titan Industries and Lloyd Electrical Engineering.

IT stocks aided the sentiment of the markets with MphasiS, Infosys Technologies, Wipro and TCS adding values between 3 and 5 per cent to their over night tally.

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Banking Stocks that faced the market wrath on back of CRR hike, got a breather today. While UTI Bank, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IOB and Canara Bank were among the prominent gainers, Federal Bank bucked the trend by shedding 1.65 per cent.

Stock Specific Action

Suzlon Energy shed 2.8 per cent on back of news that it may sell shares to fund its $1.3 billion bid for Germany's Repower and other expansion plans.

NTPC announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Bharat Earth Movers for a joint venture company to collaborate on coal mining and production. The stock lost 1.3 per cent to close at Rs 142.2

Gainers and Losers

Cinemax, GBN, TV Today, Pochiraju, Network 18 and ITI were the prominent gainers in Nifty while losers were Ranbaxy, Ansal Housing, GMR Industries and HPCL.