• Home
• /
• Business

Sensex gains 113 points on profit-taking

MUMBAI - Indian equities noted modest to handsome gains on Wednesday in heavy traded volumes. The inspiring global cues and domestic economic reforms under way brought about a sea change in market undertone. Huge proft-booking in the second half of trading sessions, however, pruned top gains of the day.

The market opened with an upward gap boosted by the Fed decision. A further slump in crude oil prices also boosted the sentiment. The market breadth turned negative in late trade in contrast to a strong breadth earlier in the day. BSE turnover crossed Rs70 billion mark.

The 30-share BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened with a positive gap of 303 points to 15,264 on the back of positive cues from the global markets. Fresh buying, thereafter, saw the Sensex rally to a high of 15,423 - up 462 points from the previous close. The markets displayed strength for most part of the trading day. However, aggressive profit-taking in the last one-hour of trades saw the Sensex pare gains and drop to a low of 15,036. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 113 points at 15,074.

The NSE Nifty touched a high of 4,616 - up 113 points - in morning trades, but eventually finished with a marginal gain of 15 points at 4,518. Nifty August futures were at 4518.90, a slight premium of 1.35 points as compared to spot closing. The BSE netted a total turnover of Rs72.03 billion from Rs69.76 billion on Tuesday.

The market breadth turned negative towards the close - out of 2,786 stocks traded, 1,444 declined, 1,266 advanced and 76 were unchanged. Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 20 advanced and 10 declined. Maruti zoomed over 6 per cent to Rs653. Tata Motors soared 4.3 per cent to Rs427. Bharti Airtel and ACC surged 3.5 per cent each to Rs870 and Rs638, respectively.

TCS and BHEL rallied over 3 per cent each to Rs858 and Rs1,827, respectively. HDFC Bank advanced 2.7 per cent to Rs1,217. Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever gained around 2.5 per cent each at Rs562, Rs2,764 and Rs246, respectively. ICICI Bank and Satyam added 2 per cent each to Rs707 and Rs407, respectively. ONGC, Wipro and Infosys were up 1.3 per cent each at Rs1,016, Rs453 and Rs1,699, respectively. On the losers side, Tata Steel plunged 4.5 per cent to Rs646.

Tata Power and SBI tumbled around 3.5 per cent each to Rs1,061 and Rs1,524, respectively. Reliance Infrastructure slipped over 3 per cent to Rs1,011, while HDFC shed 2.8 per cent at Rs2,396. DLF dropped 1.5 per cent to Rs545. NTPC was down 1 per cent at Rs180.

Corporate news scenario: ONGC gained 1.57 per cent to Rs1018.10. The company reportedly plans to scale up its gas production in Tripura and has revised the project cost to Rs43.76 billion from Rs18.17 billion. Bharat Heavy Electricals jumped 2.97 per cent to Rs1822.90 after the company won first ever contract for supplying 800 mega watts supercritical boilers worth Rs25 billion from Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company. Satyam advanced 1.63 per cent to Rs406.15.

As per reports, the company is pursuing 15-20 deals of over $50 million each and is eyeing buyouts in the Asia Pacific, US, and European continents. Cipla eased 1.11 per cent to Rs223.70 on reports Swiss drug major F Hoffmann-La Roche may move the Madras High Court against patent infringement of its HIV/AIDS drug Valcyte by Cipla. This would be a second suit by Roche against Cipla. NTPC shed 1.10 per cent to Rs180.20. As per reports the company along with four international players would invest Rs25 billion in the next three years to generate 500 megawatts of power from renewable energy sources.

Reliance Natural Resources topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs3.74 billion followed by Reliance Capital (Rs3.53 billion), Reliance Inds (Rs3.27 billion), Larsen & Toubro (Rs2.9 billion) and ICICI Bank (Rs2.06 billion). Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 36 million shares followed by Ispat Industries (14.2 million), Kashyap Technologies (12.8 million), IFCI (11 million) and IDFC (8.78 million shares).

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.20 per cent to 5,855.42. However the BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.68 per cent to 7,144.13. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. Sectoral indices on BSE displayed mixed trend. The BSE Realty index (down 0.58 per cent at 5,542.67), BSE Oil & Gas index (up 0.28 per cent to 10,187.69), BSE PSU index (down 1.23 per cent to 7,050.97), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.49 per cent to 3,867.31), BSE Health Care index (down 0.42 per cent at 4,258.15), BSE Power (down 0.79 per cent to 2,699.03), BSE Metal index (down 3.06 per cent to 12,859.19), and BSE Bankex (up 0.24 per cent at 7,235.38) underperformed the Sensex.

The BSE Capital Goods index (up 1.65 per cent at 12,482.88), BSE Auto (up 2.63 per cent at 3,919.64), BSE TecK index (up 1.52 per cent to 3,126.99), BSE FMCG index (up 0.89 per cent to 2,179.58), and BSE IT index (up 1.17 per cent to 3,923.67) outperformed the Sensex.

Auto counters were in demand throughout the day. Steady fall in crude oil prices, which slumped to 3-month low, propelled auto counters. Maruti Suzuki India surged 5.63 per cent to Rs649 on 515,000 shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. Tata Motors (up 4.02 per cent to Rs425.50), and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 3.10 per cent to Rs565), also logged gains from auto pack.

Banking shares were mixed. HDFC Bank (up 3.94 per cent to Rs1231), and ICICI Bank (up 1.43 per cent to Rs703.20), gained. However, SBI lost 3.79 per cent to Rs1519. Shares of state-run banks overturned after strong start.