The Hindu Business Line : Stock-specific rally takes Sensex to all-time high

“It was a very stocks-specific rally, wherein some of the frontline stocks pushed the Sensex up”, said the head of research at a Mumbai-based broking firm.

“Frontline stocks led the rally today, also there was an expectation of good third quarter”, said Mr Jignesh Desai, Head of institutional Sales, SBICAP.

A correlation, if any, to the global markets was difficult to perceive. The global markets showed a mixed bag with the Hang Seng gaining 2.35 per cent and the Nikkei down 4.03 per cent. Again, on Thursday, the Dow was up 0.10 per cent while the Nasdaq dipped 0.27 per cent.

“The much-anticipated Reliance Power issue was partly responsible for the euphoria in the market,” said Ms Anita Gandhi, Head of Institutional Business, Arihant Capital Markets.

“Buying interest was also witnessed in some specific stocks from mutual funds due to many New Fund Offers which came out in the past months”, said Mr Desai.

The major gainers in today’s rally were ICICI Bank, which was up by 4.67 per cent, L & T which gained 4.5 per cent, Hindustan Unilever which rose by 3.77 per cent and also touched its 52-week high.

Other gainers include Reliance Communications (3.63 per cent), Hindalco (3.41 per cent), ONGC (2.9 per cent), Reliance Industries (2.86 per cent), ITC (2.35 per cent) and DLF (2.32 per cent).

“There was a lot of selling in mid-cap stocks, where valuations seem a little tight. Small cap stocks too saw a lot of selling today”, said Mr Desai.

The BSE-Midcap was up 0.56 per cent, while BSE-Smallcap was in the red, losing 0.09 per cent.

The top losers were NTPC Ltd which plunged by 1.79 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra 1.51 per cent, Cipla 1.44 per cent, Ambuja Cement 1.41 per cent, and TCS 1.27 per cent.

Some analysts feel that with investors in a euphoric mood over the power sector, valuations in many stocks are going above the roof because of huge buying interest.

FIIs were net buyers for Rs 16.01 crore and domestic institutions were net buyers for Rs 506.85 crore.

The top performers among the sectoral indices were the BSE-CG which was up by 2.56 per cent, BSE-Oil & Gas which went up by 2.31 per cent, and BSE-Bankex which rose by 2.01 per cent.

The only indices which ended the day in the red were BSE-Auto (down 0.73 per cent), BSE-HC ( 0.07 per cent) and BSE-IT (1.02 per cent) which showed the highest decline. IT stocks were among the non-favourites as the rupee appreciated further on Friday.

In all, 1,485 stocks advanced on the BSE while 1,415 stocks declined.