The Hindu Business Line : Profit-taking, weak global advice let down benchmarks

It was a lacklustre day on Indian bourses as markets closed the week on a rather negative note. Taking cues from global markets, the bellwether Sensex closed 37.5 points lower at 12,236.8 while the broader Nifty settled at 3544,down nine points. Though markets opened on a positive note, they failed to sustain the buoyancy as profit-booking dragged them down.

However, sliding crude oil prices along with Fed's decision to keep interest rates unchanged helped markets post their ninth consecutive weekly gains. Sensex closed the week with a gain of 1.9 per cent while Nifty added 1.8 per cent and closed above 3500 for first time since May 17 during the week.

Strong support from FIIs also appears to have aided the markets' rally. The FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,755 crore in the week, according to provisional data on the SEBI.

The overall market breadth remained largely negative; the bearish sentiment was however more pronounced among large-cap stocks, which was reflected in the advances to decline ratio of 0.3:1.

Buzzing stocks

The stock of Dredging Corporation hogged the limelight with a gain of 11.9 per cent. The government's decision to chose the country's biggest dredger of ports to deepen a sea channel between the country's southeastern coast and Sri Lanka appeared to have perked up buying interest in the counter. GAIL, Syndicate Bank, Escorts and Godrej Consumer Products also had a fine outing on an otherwise dull market.

Sector focus

The undertone in the markets remained largely bearish as stocks across the sectors succumbed to the bearish onslaught. FMCG index was the largest under-performer among the sectoral indices which lost 1.1 per cent followed by banking and consumer durables.

Stocks from cement sector appeared to be on a relatively firm footing. Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja, ACC and Madras Cement ended with concrete gains.

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Among the pack of FMCG stocks, United Breweries, Henkel India, Goodricke Group and Britannia came in for sharp selling pressure. Few of them which managed to negate the trend included the likes of Satnam Overseas, CCL Products and Harrisons Malayalam among others.

Banking sector stocks also put up a poor show. Barring a few stocks such as Oriental Bank and Allahabad Bank, most of them failed to put up a creditable show.

Mid-cap and small-cap counters also sported a bearish outlook. Prominent losers included the likes of LML, Alps Industries, Sterling Biotec, EIH,Simplex Infrastructures and Madhucon Projects.

There was a mixed bag of response among the automobile stocks. While stocks such as Sundaram Fasteners, Pricol and Bajaj Auto posted modest gains, Amtek Auto, CEAT and Force Motors failed to ignite the market sentiment.

Stock-specific action

Stock of Jet Airways gained 2.1 per cent on the back of unconfirmed news reports that the domestic carrier had obtained the court approval to withdraw Rs 1,500 crore placed in an escrow account in its attempt to buy Sahara Airlines.

Buoyed by the news flow that the Board is likely to consider stock-split, the stock of Pantaloon Retail advanced by 5.6 per cent.

Educomp Solutions moved up by five per cent following the award of contract by the Uttar Pradesh government for providing computer education in additional 70 government and government aided schools.

Prominent gainers on the Nifty included Nicholas Piramal, Cummins India, IFCI, Containor Corp, Tulip and Orient Abrasives among others. Losers' pack included MphasiS BFL, Polaris Software, Aurobindo Pharma,Raymond,Vaibhav Gems and Voltas.