The Hindu Business Line : Sugar, FMCG stocks rise on day of gains

The markets gained for the second consecutive trading session on Friday, led by Infosys, ITC and Reliance. The Sensex gained another 92 points to close at 13,072 points - about 200 points lower than its level a week ago.

The Nifty rose 0.6 per cent to close at 3,821.55. Market breadth on Friday was positive, with about 65 per cent of the stocks traded on the BSE recording an advance.

There was active interest in mid-cap and small-cap stocks. The BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices outperformed the Sensex. Foreign investors were buyers on Friday, making net purchases of about Rs 650 crore, according to provisional estimates available on the BSE Web site.

Defensive sectors such as consumer staples and healthcare attracted attention, while the select stocks in the auto sector were also prominent gainers.

Buzzing stocks

Sugar stocks were in the limelight once again this week, with Sakthi Sugars, Rana Sugars, Shree Renuka Sugars and Bajaj Hindusthan recording a jump in prices.

The stocks of Emkay Share, Mercator Lines, Gujarat NRE Coke, Hindustan Oil Exploration, LMW, Nitco Tiles and Elecon Engineering were prominent gainers on the NSE.

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Liquid BeES, Benchmark Mutual's exchange-traded fund which tracks the call money and short-term Government securities markets, recorded a significant jump in volumes.

Other stocks that saw heavy volumes included GM Breweries, Nitin Spinners, Great Offshore and Khaitan Electricals.

Stocks that shed value included Celebrity Fashions, Indiabulls Real Estate, Reliance Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Plethico Pharmaceuticals and Vivimed Labs.

Sector themes

Investors appeared to be drawn to sectors such as FMCG, pharma and auto, which have been neglected over the past year.

FMCG stocks, which have been in favour in recent trading sessions, were gainers on Friday as well. Proctor & Gamble was the strongest gainer, appreciating 7.6 per cent.

The stock of Dabur India, which has been under pressure recently, rebounded on Friday, gaining about five per cent. Britannia, ITC and Nestle were among the other stocks that gained smartly on Friday.

Several pharmaceutical stocks saw robust investor interest, with frontline companies Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's also sharing the attention. The stocks of Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Orchid Chemicals and Sun Pharma gained 4-5 per cent.

Select auto and auto component stocks also gained on selective buying. Maruti Udyog gained one per cent after international brokerage house UBS raised its rating on the stock to `buy' from `neutral.'

Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors were the more prominent gainers. Apollo Tyres and Tube Investments were gainers among auto ancillary stocks.

Stock-specific action

Patel Engineering and Gammon India have together bagged an order worth Rs 800 crore from the Himachal Pradesh Government for a 434 MW hydel project. The Patel Engineering scrip gained Rs 5.95 to close at Rs 337.95. The stock of Gammon India ended on a flat note.

Hexaware Technologies gained 5.7 per cent to close at Rs 168.1. Citigroup has a new `buy' rating on the stock.

i-flex Solutions gained 3.9 per cent to close at Rs 2,082. The company announced on Thursday that it had won an order from the Bank of Nigeria for its anti-money laundering program.