The Hindu Business Line : Indices end flat in listless trading

Reflective of the dull undertone, the BSE Sensex was stuck in a narrow trading range of about 21points. The index closed at 5210.85, up 0.36 per cent or 18.77 points over Tuesday's close of 5192.08.

The S&P CNX Nifty mirrored a similar trend. It closed at 1635.45, up by 0.23 per cent over the previous day's close of 1631.75.

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Ranbaxy Laboratories was the top gainer among the 30 stocks that constitute the Sensex. The share price recorded a rise of Rs 15.23 before closing at Rs 973.3.

State Bank of India, Grasim and BHEL were the other major gainers among the index stocks.

Bharti Tele-ventures, Tata Steel and Zee Telefilms were prominent losers from the stocks that form part of the index. Tata Steel's share fell by Rs 2.3 to close at Rs 249.6.

Quite a few cement stocks attracted market interest during the day's trading. Top companies such as Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja Cement and ACC managed to find a place in the gainers list.

The share price of Gujarat Ambuja Cement went up by Rs 8.45 to Rs 332.7. Trading volumes at 4.27 lakh shares were up sharply in comparison to 1.79 lakh shares traded the previous day.

Reports that the cement sales volume of the company along with the subsidiaries was up by 6 per cent in August appear to have triggered market interest towards the stock.

Stocks such as Agro Dutch Industries, Wyeth and Matrix Labs continued to evince investor interest during Wednesday's trading. Consolidating the gains recorded in the past few days, the share price of these companies recorded sharp rise on Wednesday as well.

The share price of Agro Dutch Industries logged a 20 per cent jump for the second successive day. It closed at Rs 41.45 while trading volumes shot up to 2.69 lakh shares from 82572 shares recorded on Tuesday.

Wyeth's share price was up for the third day in succession. The company reported that it has sold its plant in Mumbai for a consideration of about Rs 45 crore. The share price was up by Rs 27.3 to Rs 468.85 during Wednesday's trading. Close to 40000 shares were traded during the day.

After lying low for a while, investor interest appears to have resurfaced in banking sector. Quite a few banking companies have recorded gains over the past few days. The trend was evident on Wednesday as well. Stocks such as SBI, Punjab National Bank and Vijaya Bank were among the major gainers from the sector.

A sharp rise in share price backed by a surge in trading volume was noticeable in stocks such as Shasun Chemicals, Motherson Sumi and Larsen & Toubro as well. In the case of Shasun Chemicals, the stock gained by 9 per cent to Rs.456.55. Trading volumes jumped to 34897 shares from 617 shares posted on Tuesday.

Motherson Sumi's share price increased by Rs 7.6 before settling at Rs 67.85. From 12332 shares recorded on Tuesday, trading volumes shot up to 2.27 lakh shares on Wednesday.

The Larsen & Toubro stock posted a 5 per cent spurt in share price. It ended the day at Rs 874.95; trading volumes vaulted to 5.77 lakh shares from 1.1 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

After a sharp rise on Tuesday, Biocon and Praj Industries appear to have taken a breather on Wednesday. Both the companies were confined to the losers list with Biocon's share price declining by Rs 11.55 to Rs 531.4. Trading volumes dropped to 2.6 lakh shares from 5.6 lakh shares recorded the previous day. The stock had gained Rs 24.2 on Tuesday.

Lupin, Kochi Refineries and Apollo Hospitals were other prominent losers of the day's trading. After recording a rise of Rs 14.8 on Tuesday, the share price of Kochi Refineries dropped by Rs 9.65 on Wednesday. Trading volumes was down at 2.98 lakh shares on Wednesday as opposed to 4.68 lakh shares recorded the previous day.