The Hindu Business Line : Buying interest propels market

AFTER a sharp tumble on Thursday, the benchmark BSE Sensex closed the last trading day of the week on a positive note. The buying interest witnessed by the 30-stock index during the post-noon sessions propelled it by 71.01 points (1.47 per cent) to close at 4889 points.

On Friday, Sensex opened at 4803.31 points, about 15 points lower than the previous day's closing. Volatility prevailed in the index during the early trading sessions as it reached the day's low of 4759.35 points. The index steadily rose during the post-noon sessions to reach the day's high of 4902.27 points in the process registering an intra-day swing of about 143 points. Sensex closed two points lower than the day's high.

Click here for table

On the NSE, the 50-stock S&P CNX Nifty rose by 26 points (1.74 per cent) to 1,521.1 points. The trading volumes on the NSE dipped to 19.9 crore shares on Friday as against 23.29 crore shares registered on Thursday.

On the BSE, most of the indices, including BSE 100, BANKEX, BSE PSU, has closed the week on a positive note. Buoyed by the buying interest in PSU stocks, BSE PSU rose by 2.4 per cent.

On the BSE, of the total 1,788 stocks that were traded, 778 (43.5 per cent) advanced, 915 (51.2 per cent) declined and the rest remained unchanged. The advances were higher in the `A' group stocks at 59.9 per cent.

On the Sensex, 24 stocks appreciated in value and the remaining declined in value.

Index heavyweights were a mixed bag on Friday. Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Hindustan Lever closed the day on a positive note. On the contrary, Infosys Technologies and ITC ended the day lower. Coupled with large trading volumes the stock of Reliance Industries rose by 1.2 per cent to Rs 433.6. The stock of Hindustan Lever also rose by 2.1 per cent to Rs 138.65.

Index constituents that registered sharp gain include Tata Motors (4.2 per cent), Tata Steel (5.9 per cent), Hindustan Petroleum (4.1 per cent) and BHEL (5.4 per cent).

Astra Microwave Products rose by 5 per cent to Rs 270.7. The company has bagged two orders worth Rs 53.7 crore (a Rs 50-crore order from Bharat Electronics for supplying components for a defence radar and a Rs 3.7-crore order from Electronics & Radar Development Establishment, Bangalore for supplying sub-system for defence applications).

Avery India rose by 4.7 per cent to Rs 40.9. After the close of the day's trading, the company announced that it plans to buy back its equity shares through the open market route at a maximum price of Rs 35 per share.

Coupled with a sharp surge in trading volumes the stock of Container Corporation rose by 14.3 per cent to Rs 602.35. Other stocks that registered sharp spike to their stock prices include Gravity India (9.9 per cent), Sesa Goa (9.9 per cent), Punjab National Bank (7.9 per cent), Engineers India (7.8 per cent) and Valecha Engineering (7.7 per cent).

Polyplex Corporation has been witnessing a steady decline over the last few trading sessions. On Friday, the stock fell by 2.3 per cent to Rs 126.75. It has recommended a final dividend of 20 per cent per share for the financial year 2004.

Several bank stocks including Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India registered robust trading volumes. Other stocks that registered robust trading volumes include Satyam Computer, SAIL, Tata Steel, Maruti Udyog, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Tata Power, Power Trading Corporation and IPCL.