The Hindu Business Line : Profit-booking takes upper hand

In what appears to be a relentless rally, markets continued their streak to break new highs. However, bouts of selling which crept in, as investors began to book profits at higher levels trimmed the day's gain. Sensex touched an intra-day high of about 13,588, before it succumbed to the selling pressure to close with a gain of 36 points.

The Nifty ended on a flat note. In spite of a firm opening of the markets and strong global cues, profit booking got the upper hand and turned the market breadth negative. The advance decline ratio was pegged at 0.65:1.

Banks continued their rally for the second consecutive session with the BSE Bankex gaining about 2.16 per cent.

Buzzing Stocks

Sterlite Industries pared gains as worries of equity dilution due to an impending ADR issue, overshadowed the joy of the robust second quarter growth. The company has announced its plans to raise up to Rs 12,500 crore through various securities to fund its plans of entering into the commercial energy business in the country. The money thus raised would be used to buy the Government stake in Hindustan Zinc and also to reduce its debt. It closed with a gain of 1.44 per cent.

Sector focus

ACC and HDFC Bank led the gainers pack among the large caps. Both the stocks notched up gains of about 6 per cent each. Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained about 1.2 per cent on the back of block deals. Holcim has increased its stake in the company by 3.7 per cent to 18.5 per cent at a consideration of Rs 690 crore. State Bank of India, Satyam Computers and HDFC were among other gainers.

Among the mid-caps, Asahi India was the top gainer with an increase of about 12 per cent. Other counters that surged were Tulip IT, Mphasis BFL, Havell India, Deccan Aviation and Shopper's Stop. Lokesh Machines, Marksans Pharma, Voltamp, Binani Industries and FCS Software were among counters that surged in the small-cap space.

Zandu Pharma gained 10 per cent after its board decided to consider a bonus issue. Sangam India gained 6.5 per cent after it announced a hike in its capex plan by Rs 167.40 crore to Rs 707.40 crore.

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The banks, however, stole the show. HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, IOB, UTI Bank, Bank of India and Oriental Bank were some of the gainers.

Expectations that the Government will push the reforms process in banking during the upcoming winter session of Parliament buoyed up the sentiments further.

The real estate stocks also had a decent performance during the day. Hindustan Motors, which is a new entrant in the realty play, gained 8.8 per cent; Lancor Holding gained 4.9 per cent; Era Constructions gained 3 per cent.

Gainers and losers

Dhampur Sugars, Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols, Lyka Labs, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Adani Enterprises were among the scrips that marched northwards. MTNL, Finolex Cables, TVS Motors, Indian Hotels and Arvind Mills were among the counters that closed in the red.