The Hindu Business Line : Late hour buying props up Sensex

Buying interest in the post-noon trading session helped the Sensex end in the positive territory. It ended with a gain of 80.35 points (or 0.62 per cent) to settle at 12982.98 points. The Nifty appreciated by 0.96 per cent to close for the day at 3770.55 points.

The BSE Midcap and SmallCap rallied by 1.47 per cent and 1.86 per cent respectively led by IT stocks. For the third successive day, the combined FII turnover (BSE+NSE combined) was positive, with net buying of Rs 130.53 crore during the day's trading. The advance to declines ratio was also overwhelming stacked in favour of the former. Out of 2,675 stocks traded, 1,739 stocks advanced in value, while 851 lagged.

SECTOR ACTION

Among the BSE Sectoral indices, the key gainers were Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, metals, banking and auto. The sector, which bucked the overall market trend, was FMCG.

In the metals space, the major gainers were SAIL, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Jindal Stainless and Hindalco. These stocks have gained on an average 1-3 per cent during the day's trading.

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The auto stocks that were in the limelight during the day were Escorts and Mahindra and Mahindra, which appreciated by 3 per cent. The other key gainers were Tata Motors, TVS Motors, Cummins India and Hindustan Motors. The ones, which went against the tide, were Amtek Auto, Apollo Tyres, Hero Honda and Sundaram Fastners and Exide Industries.

In the capital goods space, the key gainers were Praj Industries, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Triveni Engineering, Astra Microwave. The ones, which bucked the trend, were Alfa Laval, Bharat Electronics, Siemens and Kirloskar Brothers

In the FMCG category, the major losers were Hindustan Lever, which shed 2.05 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer lost 1.11 per cent and Procter and Gamble was down by 0.66 per cent. The stocks, which went against the tide in this space, were Bata India, Colgate Palmolive and Godrej Consumer.

STOCK SPECIFIC ACTION

A host of initial public offerings made in recent months perked up sharply during the day's trading. Stocks such as Parsvnath Developers (up 16.3 per cent) MindTree Consulting (12.7 per cent) and Akruti Nirman (11.7 per cent) were among the key gainers during the day's trading.

The Dabur India stock perked up by 1.2 per cent to settle at Rs 89.70. The uptrend has to be viewed in the light of the company's strategic roadmap for its retail venture. The board has approved the company's entry into organised retail market through a wholly owned subsidiary, H&B Stores Ltd.

Among the mid-cap IT stocks, the key gainers during the day were NIIT Technologies, Rolta India, Tech Mahindra and CMC. While NIIT Technologies and Rolta India marched up by over 12 per cent, Tech Mahindra and CMC moved up by 7-8 per cent in the day's session. The trading volumes also moved up significantly in most of these stocks.