The Hindu Business Line : Indices power ahead; banks steal the show

Ahead of the crucial Fed meeting later in the day on Tuesday, where the spotlight would be on the Governor, Mr Ben Bernanke, for his pronouncement on interest rates, the markets staged a rebound to end the day with smart gains.

The Sensex rose 202 points to settle at 11014; the Nifty notched up gains of 61 points to finish at 3212.4. Banking stocks remained firmly in the limelight.

Cues for other Asian markets, too, were positive. Both the Nikkei and the Hang Seng indices ended in the green, with the former gaining 2 per cent and the latter moving up by half a percentage point.

The markets opened firm and went from strength to strength as trading progressed. Advances got the better of declines by a ratio of 2:1. Incidentally, Tuesday was the first time since May 18 that the Sensex closed above the 11000-mark; the Nifty had last closed above the 3200-point mark on May 29.

Index stocks

Within Sensex, with the exception of BHEL, Ranbaxy and Hero Honda, all the other stocks ended in the positive territory. Bharti Airtel was one of the prominent gainers among the index constituents. The company has once again reported a robust addition to its subscriber base of July.

ONGC was another stock that racked up neat gains. If there is one company that is complaining about the continuing high prices of crude, it certainly doesn't appear to be ONGC.

L&T, Reliance Industries, Reliance Communication and ITC were the other stocks that ended the day firm.

Buzzing sector

The banking sector was back in the reckoning with a bang and the extent to which it found favour with the street could be gauged by the movement of the BSE Bankex, which rose by 3.24 per cent.

Stocks from the sector rallied after the boards of some banks approved of a hike in lending rates in order to preserve spreads.

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Earlier, the Finance Minister had called for banks to reconsider their decision to hike rates. The banks' move suitably addressed any investor apprehension on this score and led to their stocks being marked up across the board.

Key movers within the index included ICICI Bank and SBI. Other stocks that posted strong gains included Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, IOB, Andhra Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Sizzling stocks

Swaraj Engines and India Infoline were two stocks that were buzzing with activity on the BSE. Both of them ended the day with gains of close to 20 per cent.

Circuit filter stocks

On a day when the several stocks across market-cap categories participated in the action, a clutch of scrips hit the upper circuit filter on the BSE. They included RCF, GTC Industries, Swaraj Mazda, Marksans Pharma, Simplex Infrastructure, KRBL, Gitanjali Gems, Bharat Gears, Bhagyanagar Metals and Clutch Auto.

Stocks that shed value

Counters that ended the day in the red included Gati, Vivimed Labs, Shree Renuka Sugars, Walchand Industries, Shivalik Global, Motherson Sumi, Bombay Dyeing, Jagran Prakashan and Harita Seats.