The Hindu Business Line : Small, mid-cap stocks suffer most

AFTER a sharp rally on Thursday, it was a lacklustre day for the markets, which ended on a flat note. The benchmark Sensex closed the day with a gain of seven points at 8060,while the broader Nifty closed at 2455.5, marginally above its previous close.

On Friday, markets opened on a flat note and remained range-bound throughout the day. There was a greater degree of volatility, which contributed to the cautious sentiment.

The breadth of the market was largely negative; for every stock that advanced, there were two declines. Small-cap and mid-cap stocks were the worst hit.

Prominent losers were Praj Industries, National Fertilizers, Trent, Shaw Wallace, SKF India, Shreyas Shipping and Venus Remedies.

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Banking stocks perked up on account of fresh buying. Union Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, SBI, Oriental Bank and Andhra Bank recorded smart gains.

Mirroring the gains in these stocks, the BSE BANKEX and the Bank Nifty were up by 1.7 and 2.2 per cent respectively.

Most stocks in the IT space remained subdued. Stocks of TCS, Wipro, Satyam, Infosys and Rolta India ended in the red. Few of them that managed to negate the trend were Sonata Software, Ramco Systems, Allsec Technologies and Scandent Solutions.

It was a bad day for most stocks in the pharmaceutical sector, which suffered huge doses of losses. Ranbaxy, Ajanta Pharma, Dabur Pharma, Nicholas Piramal, Surya Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma succumbed to the bear attack.

Cement stocks also lost ground. ACC, Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja, Madras Cements and Prism Cements shed value.

Selective interest among FMCG stocks helped them end the day in positive territory. Crew BOS was a significant gainer whose stock shot up by 5.2 per cent. Bata, Radico Khaitan, Nirma, ITC and Dabur India also posted respectable gains.

However, Satnam Overseas, United Breweries and VST Industries ended weak.

On a day marked by a high degree of volatility, most metal stocks put up a good show. Indian Seamless, SAIL, Sesa Goa, Jindal Stainless, Tata Steel, Hindustan Zinc and Madras Aluminium netted off moderate gains. However, Vesuvius India and Hindalco came in for selling pressure.

Select stocks in the capital goods sector succeeded in attracting the bulls. Those that witnessed widespread interest across their counters included Greaves Cotton, ABB and Alstom. L&T closed the day with marginal gains. Elgi Equipment and SKF India ended in negative territory.

There was a mixed bag of response among auto and auto-ancillary stocks. TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto, CEAT, Eicher Motors, Maruti, M&M and Asahi India were up on account of strong buying interest.

However, profit-booking among Punjab Tractors, Exide Industries and Apollo Tyres dragged them down.

Oil and energy stocks also failed to gather momentum. BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, Essar Oil, Chennai Petroleum, Hindustan Oil Exploration and MRPL failed to fuel the market sentiment.

Stock-specific action: Shares of software maker Sasken Communication Technologies rose 79 per cent on trading debut. It closed at Rs 464.5 against the offer price of Rs 260.

Sterling Biotech shot up by 9.6 per cent after the nation's biggest maker of gelatin increased the amount of money it is raising from selling foreign currency convertible bonds.

Opto Circuits was up 4.1 per cent on news reports that the health care equipment maker plans to acquire two US-based companies.

Other notable gainers on the Nifty were EIH, Emco Industries, GE Shipping, Madhucon Projects, Monsanato, Ramco Industries and Blue Star.

Aegis Logistics, Balaji Telefilms, Bombay Dyeing, Container Corporation, Essel Propack, Gokaldas, Indian Hotels, VSNL, Lupin Chemicals, Siemens and Thermax made it to the losers' pack.

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