The Hindu Business Line : FMCG stocks shine in bearish condition

The Sensex shed 138 points to close at 8,823.3 points. In a rather bearish overall market, the FMCG stocks had a good show. Led by the big daddy, HLL, a number of other consumer goods stocks such as Nestle, Godrej Consumer, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer too moved north.

Henkel India was the top gainer in the FMCG space.

Bombay Rayon Fashions, which got listed on Monday, ended with a 18 per cent premium to the listing price. The stock closed at Rs 83.50.

Though the Sensex and the Nifty had the maximum damage during the day, the broad-based indices such as Junior Nifty and the BSE Small-Cap Index were relatively stable.

The Nifty Junior gained 0.27 points and was more stable with just few price shockers. UTI Bank and Biocon, both from the Nifty Junior basket of stocks, recorded just above 3 per cent gains. Most stocks traded in a 3 per cent range on either side.

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The Biocon stock witnessed huge volatility during the day's trade. The company is looking at buying the intellectual property assets of the US-based Nobex Corp, which has gone bankrupt.

Biocon is developing an oral insulin product with the company. The drug is expected to be a blockbuster. The stock dropped as much as 9 per cent earlier during the day. Finally, it recouped the losses and closed Rs 10 above the previous day's level at Rs 506.

A number of companies gained in the small-cap segment. SRF Polymer, Dolphin Offshore, Bharat Bijli, ICSA India, Ansal Housing and Donear Industries are some of the stocks in the small-cap segment that recorded gains.

Ansal Housing has been buzzing for quite a while. The stock has run up 21 per cent in the last four trading sessions.

ICSA India has bagged a Rs 35-crore order to set up a transmission line on a turnkey basis in Andhra Pradesh. The stock was up 5 per cent.

Donear Industries has announced a stock split and a bonus issue.

A number of small textile companies such as Suryavanshi Spinning, Shiva Texyarn and Pioneer Embroideries had a field day in the markets. With the textile sector looking upbeat, a number of smaller companies have been re-rated in the markets. A number of them have also been on an expansion binge. Valuations are looking up for these companies.

Suryavanshi has announced a merger of its textile unit with itself.

Donear, Pioneer Embroideries and Suryavanshi gained more than 10 per cent.

Sonata Software, 3i Infotech, Orient Info, Sangam India, JK Cement, TTK Prestige, Saregama India, First Leasing, Unitech, Archies, GMR Industries and Suashish Diamonds were some of the other prominent gainers.

The Unitech stock was up 7 per cent.

Alstom Projects, Agrotech Foods, Berger Paints, Nelco, Taj GVK and LG Balakrishna Brothers witnessed activity in terms of both price and volumes. Nelco has been on a relentless rally over the past few days.

Capital goods stocks appear to have settled for the time being after a solid run in the last 15 days. There were no major moves in the stocks of this sector.

Suzlon Energy remained flat despite winning maiden contracts from China and South Korea.

Siemens, after a sizzling rally in the past week, stood firm even in a bearish market.

Trent took a massive dip during the day. The stock tumbled 17 per cent.

Prism Cements, Flex Engineering, PTC, Crest Animations, Champdany, Zenith Exports and Snowchem India were some of the prominent losers outside the Sensex and the Nifty.

Among the Nifty stocks, Tata Chemicals was a prominent gainer ending up 3 per cent.

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