The Hindu Business Line : Oil, gas star performers; sectoral indices end firm

Taking the cue from the Asian peer Japan, the markets opened firm. Infosys results, which induced the bullish sentiment to the markets on Friday, continued its journey on Monday's trading. Right from the start, bulls had a field day as the market progressed it gathered momentum. Thanks to the last hour buying, Sensex gained 311.5 points to close at 13,694.58 points. Mid and small cap index too participated in the rally and both gained 1.6 and 1.89 per cent respectively. The broader markets Nifty added 96 points to cross 4,000-mark to close at 4,013.35. Advances to declines reflected the market sentiment with 1,802 shares advanced against 779 declined. All the sectoral indices closed in the green with oil and gas was the star performer.

Buzzing Stocks

ICRA, which got listed on Friday, continued its upward journey hitting upper circuit of 20 per cent on the Monday's trading with 32.54 lakh shares changing hand. Cements stocks, which was lying low for quite sometime became active with ACC gaining 5.14 per cent to the previous close. Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Grasim Industries, Madras Cements and Ultratech Cement followed the trend. Other notable gainers were Reliance Industries, Reliance Communication, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors. Except HDFC Bank and Satyam Computer rest in the Sensex basket closed with the gain.

Sector focus

The BSE sectoral indices, oil and gas sector gained the most. The recent run up in the crude prices was ignored on back of continued appreciation of the rupee against the green pack, which hit a nine-year high on Monday argued favourably for the sector. Indian Oil Corporation added 2.38 per cent to Rs 402.4. ONGC, BPCL and HPCL were the others to follow the suit.

Metal sector index gained 2.76 per cent with Jindal Stainless Steel surged 4.8 per cent to close at Rs 134.3. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Maharashtra Seamless all added values to the previous close. The stock that was brittle and weak were such as Hindustan Zinc, Nalco and Shree Precoated Steels.

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FMCG stocks made some headway on Monday's trading with the ITC gained Rs 5.45 to close at Rs 158.65.The others to follow the suit were Hindustan Lever, Britannia, Bata India, Tata Tea and United Spirits. Those bucked the trend to close in negative were Marico, Nestle and United Breweries.

In the capital goods space, Praj Industries, Crompton Greaves and Thermaxall gained 5 per cent. Other prominent gainers were Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, Bharat Electronics, SKF Bearing and Alstom Projects. Triveni Engineering and Kalpataru Power were the ones to close the day in negative.

Stock Specific Action

Punj Lloyd has informed that it has secured a contract for the construction of pipeline from Oman Gas Company on EPC basis in Oman for a value of Rs 530 crore. The project is likely to be completed by October 2008.The stock appreciated 8.2 per cent to close at Rs 180.20.

Indiabulls Financial Services has informed that the board of directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs 1 per share (50 per cent on the face value of Rs 2 per share) for the financial year 2006-07. Market participants greeted the news and the stock gained 2 per cent.

SunTV Network surged 3.6 per cent on back of news that a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on April 24 to consider the issue of bonus shares to the equity shareholders of the company.