The Hindu Business Line : Mid-caps, small-caps continue to thrive

Large capitalisation stocks such as SBI, HDFC, ONGC and Reliance contributed to the Sensex's gain of 0.2 per cent. Nifty ended the day with a gain of 0.3 per cent.

Action remained riveted around select mid-cap and small-cap stocks. Nifty Junior ended with a gain of 0.5 per cent while CNX Midcap gained nearly 1 per cent. Out of BSE 100, 51 stocks recorded gains. In the small-cap segment, the proportion of stocks advancing was about 60 per cent. Major gainers include Herbertsons, ITI, Mukand, Maharashtra Scooter, Schenectady Beck and Ajanta Pharma.

Click here for table

Banks sizzle: Stocks of banking companies continued to surge. Major gainers included stocks such as Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Union Bank of India.

The stock of Indian Overseas Bank registered gains of about 4.3 per cent. The bank announced that the proposal to raise capital through a GDR offer has been approved by the board. Allahabad Bank is also set to raise capital through a public offer in the domestic market. However, Punjab National Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, which are also set to raise capital through public offers, put on only measly gains.

Oil shines: Surging crude oil prices may be behind the rising stock price of ONGC. Prices of crude oil continued to set the market on fire in the London market, which opened after the Indian stock markets opened for trading. Stocks of oil refining companies such as Hindustan Petroleum, Chennai Petroleum and Bongaigaon Refineries, which may be saddled with higher levels of subsidy, also rose in value. Stocks of Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum (along with Kochi Refineries which is to be merged with Bharat Petroleum), however, lost value.

Consumer goods firm up: Stocks of consumer durable companies, which have not participated in the price rally, since April 2003 rose in value. Stocks such as Videocon International, BPL and Whirlpool India registered gains. Stocks of all the four listed tobacco companies - ITC, Godfrey Phillips, VST Industries and GTC Industries gained in value.

Gains for Tata group: The large-cap stocks from the Tata stable — TCS, Tata Motors and Tata Steel — lost value on Thursday but stocks of many other smaller Tata group companies rose in value. The stock of Trent gained 20 per cent while that of Titan put on 10 per cent. Tata Coffee, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, Tata Infotech, CMC and VSNL recorded gains.

Mixed trend in IT: Major losers included large-capitalisation stocks from the IT sector. Stock prices of software majors — Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Satyam — fell. A number of other stocks such as Flextronics, HCL Technologies, HCL Infosystems and Polaris Labs however gained in value.

Other losers during the day include the associate banks of State Bank of India. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Mysore shed more than 2 per cent. Stocks of construction companies such as L&T, Madhucon Projects, JMC Projects and IVRCL Infrastructure also ruled weak. The stock of SSI and that of Scandent Solution, which listed after the restructuring between SSI and Scandent Group, only this week also declined.

Stocks of tyre majors such as MRF, Ceat Tyres and Apollo Tyres along with auto majors such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors also lost value. Capital goods majors such as Crompton Greaves, ABB, Alfa Laval, Siemens and Alstom too shed value.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
UTI Grandmaster to take new avatar

Birla Sun Life, Crisil plan benchmark indices for ULIPs

Bear-run arrested

Trent hits new high on growth prospects

Block deal in HDFC Bank

Cash flow hopes draw interest in ONGC

Outlook may turn positive for Maruti, BHEL

Mid-caps, small-caps continue to thrive