The Hindu Business Line : Markets upbeat; mixed fortunes for FMCG, telecom stocks

THE bull-run in the stock markets continued unabated on Tuesday and the benchmark indices broke fresh ground to reach new all-time highs. Though a cautious approach amongst investors was evident in the manner in which the indices moved during the session, the overall sentiment remained upbeat.

With the gains registered on Tuesday, both the benchmark indices - the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index (Sensex) and the National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty index - were poised to reach new levels that are highly sensitive psychological barriers among investors. It is widely expected that the 7,000-points level in the case of the Sensex and the 2,200-points level for the Nifty are thresholds which when breached could possibly indicate either the continuation of the rally or a reversal.

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Tuesday's session witnessed a near equal number of gainers and losers, but select stocks that posted an increase during the day managed to put the indices in the black. With institutional support being sustained through the day, the indices posted new all time highs intra-day, though both the benchmark indices closed at lower levels eventually. However, in the case of the BSE Sensex the closing level continued to stay above the 6,900-points level unlike Monday's session when the indices slipped back below that level after breaching it intra-day.

At the BSE, the Sensex hit a new high of 6,929 points intra-day after opening the day on a weaker note at 6,885 points. The BSE index slipped into the red to 6,872 points only once during the day towards the first hour of the session. Institutional support kept the index above the previous day's close, though traded value of Sensex stocks at Rs 806 crore was comparatively low.

During Tuesday's session, stocks from the automobile, FMCG and telecom sectors witnessed mixed fortunes with a near equal number of gainers and losers. Frontline pharmaceutical stocks also reported gains after considerable activity during the day.

Amongst the big gainers at the BSE on Tuesday were Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, HLL, HPCL, ITC, Infosys Technologies, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Energy, RIL, Satyam Computers, Tata Steel and Tata Motors. Amongst the stocks that slipped to lower levels on Tuesday were Bajaj Auto, Bharti TeleVentures, ACC, BHEL, Grasim Industries, Hero Honda, HDFC, L&T, Maruti Udyog, State Bank of India, Tata Power and Wipro.

The BSE Bankex — Index of banking stocks was one of the bigger gainers on Tuesday. The major gainers from the banking sector were Andhra Bank (up 11.1 per cent), Bank of India (up 6.13 per cent), Vijaya Bank (up 5.9 per cent), UTI Bank (up 4.4 per cent), HDFC Bank (up 2.4 per cent), Oriental Bank and Union Bank (both up over one per cent) and J&K Bank. The banking stocks that closed lower on Tuesday were Corporation Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Bank, Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank.

The other gainers at the National Stock Exchange were National Aluminium, HCL Technologies, Gas Authority and HPCL. Losers from out the Nifty fifty included Colgate Palmolive India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Shipping Corporation and Tata Tea.

Amongst the stocks in the information technology sector, the other gainers were Moser Baer, Mphasis BFL, Patni Computer, Polaris Labs and TCS Ltd. The pharma sector stocks that posted gains during the day were Aurobinda Pharma, Biocon, Cadila Healthcare, Cipla, GlaxoSmithKline, Lupin Ltd, Matrix Labs, Novartis, Pfizer, Wockhardt and Wyeth. The losers were Divi's Labs, FDC Ltd, Glenmark Pharma, IPCA Labs and Nicholas Piramal.

FMCG stocks also had a mixed day. Stocks such as Nestle, ITC, Dabur, HLL and Gillette closed the day higher, while other stocks including Britannia, Nirma, Procter & Gamble and Colgate were pushed lower due to selling pressure.

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Markets upbeat; mixed fortunes for FMCG, telecom stocks