The Hindu Business Line : Benchmarks lack direction in dull trade

After the fireworks of Thursday, Indian equity markets spent Monday in a relatively sedate sideways move. Sensex attempted to move close to 14,500 early in the session but the general air of caution kept a lid on the rally and the index finally ended with a gain of 0.33 per cent.

Market breadth began on a strong note but deteriorated to close almost neutral. BSE Midcap Index closed slightly in the red while the BSE Smallcap Index closed with a gain of 0.37 per cent.

The low volumes recorded in both the cash as well as the derivative segment of the NSE is a clear indicator that market participants are willing to play a wait and watch game till the Budget.

As per provisional data released by the BSE, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 6 crore on February 19.

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No negative news was forthcoming from the other global equity markets as most of them were in the green. Indian rupee was very strong and traded near its one-year highs as strong FII inflows and rising interest rates kept it buoyant. Crude hovered around the $59 mark on the Nymex.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Bankex put up the strongest show with a gain of 1.4 per cent. The index derived its strength from ICICI Bank that closed the day with a gain of 3.11 per cent.

However, other banking stocks did not reflect this optimism. HDFC Bank closed 0.87 per cent lower while SBI gained less that 1 per cent. The poorest performer among the sector indices was the consumer durables index, which closed lower by 1.49 per cent.

Reliance Industries was in the limelight due to the announcement that it had found new natural gas reserves in the Krishna Godavari basin D6 block off the east coast. The stock ended the day higher by Rs 11.

The ABB sparkled after its strong results for 2006 and the announcement of a stock split. The stock closed the day with a 3 per cent gain.

Siemens matched ABB's performance on Monday with a 3 per cent gain too.

In stock specific action, the Bharti group has announced that it is planning to spend $2.5 billion on a retail network in order to compete with rivals such as the Reliance Industries. The stock continued its strong run on the bourses with yet another gain of Rs 6.

Biocon said that it is planning to acquire 50 acres of land in the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Visakhapatnam for its future expansion needs. The stock gained 5 per cent on the back of this news.

Stocks that hit a new high included stalwarts such as ABB, Bharat Electricals and SAIL. The top losers list included stocks Dhampur Sugars and other second rung stocks such as Gujarat Hotels, Oasis Capital and Wall Street Finance.

Stocks that were locked in the upper circuit filter were Premier, Pennar Aluminium, Trigyn Technologies, Teledata Informatics and Suasish Diamonds. Stocks locked in the lower circuit filter were GMR Industries, Tanla Solutions and Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision.

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