The Hindu Business Line : Heavyweights drive positive trend

Apart from the strong FII flows, the expectations of good corporate performance for the October-December quarter and robust advance tax payments by companies have combined to drive the positive market sentiment. The market breadth continued to be positive, if the advances to declines ratio at 1.63 are anything to go by. Out of 2,413 stocks traded, 1,457 stocks appreciated in value while 893 stocks logged declines.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the sectors that outperformed the Sensex were BSE Auto - 2.71 per cent, BSE - Bankex - 1.44 per cent and BSE - Consumer Durables - 1.28 per cent. The sectors that lagged were BSE - IT and BSE - Capital Goods.

The S&P CNX Nifty ended the day at 2,044.65 points, 0.88 per cent higher, but the other indices such as Nifty Junior, CNX 500 and CNX Midcap 200 appreciated more than the Nifty. Among the Nifty constituents, the significant gainers were Hero Honda, Videsh Sanchar Nigam, Oriental Bank of Commerce, ITC and Bajaj Auto. The day after the Reliance Industries announced that its board was meeting to consider buyback of equity shares on December 27, the stock inched up by 0.91 per cent to close for the day at Rs.485. The losers were Hindustan Lever, MTNL, National Aluminium, Satyam Computers and Ranbaxy.

Among Nifty Junior stocks, the gainers were Bank of India, LIC Housing Finance, TVS Motors, Indian Overseas Bank and IFCI. The losers were Mphasis BFL, IBP, Kotak Bank, Biocon and Pfizer.

Outside the index heavyweights, the prominent gainers during the day were Clutch Auto, GTN Textiles, Timex Watches, RPG Cables, Karur Vysya Bank, Berger Paints and Sonata Software.

The Clutch Auto stock hit the upper circuit with the stock appreciating by Rs. 7.2 (or 20 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 43.20. The trading volumes in the stock rose from 2.16 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 4.51 lakh shares during the day.

There was heightened trading activity in the GTN Textiles stock as the volumes shot up to 1.21 lakh shares during the day from a mere 3,931 shares traded on Monday. The stock price also rose by Rs 12.25 (or 18.6 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 77.95.

Sustained buying triggered the stock price of Timex Watches, which went up by Rs 2.44 to close for the day at Rs 18.34. The Karur Vysya Bank stock also hit the 10 per cent circuit with the stock appreciating by Rs 44.75 to close for the day at Rs 492.40. The trading volumes, however, dipped from 1.19 lakh shares to 78,978 shares during the day.

Buying interest spurted in the Sonata Software stock as the company outlined plans to pursue acquisitions of about $50 million and business process outsourcing plans in the insurance sector. The stock rose by Rs 1.55 to close for the day at Rs 23.50.

Among the significant losers were Maharashtra Seamless, Indian Seamless, Tele Data Informatics, Tips Industries and Punjab Communications.