A gainful week

STOCKS REPORT

In a volatile trading session, value picking in blue chips at the fag end helped the market record its fifth straight gain but action was missing in the broader market.

Volumes continued to remain low as the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed above the breakeven but lack of major activity is worrying, brokers said.

Oil, tech and FMCG counters were among the biggest gainers on Friday while select capital goods and consumer durables counters lost ground. The BSE Sensex hit a high of 6404.36 and a low of 6333.83 in intra-day trades before finally closing at 6388.48 points, up 28.83 points (0.45 per cent) from its previous close.

A dealer at K R Choksey said, "The market has managed to record gains in all the trading sessions this week but volumes have remained low. A lack of impetus is keeping investors away and a small hike in US interest rates mid-week was received well."

The undertone has also been slightly optimistic in the latter half of this week after the government eased some of its tax proposals announced in the Union Budget, brokers added.

Among frontline counters, 19 out of the 30-scrip Sensex basket closed higher. The breadth of the market was marginally positive, with gainers outpacing losers 12:11 on the BSE. Volumes were at the same levels as on Thursday, with a turnover of Rs 2,046.67 crore recorded on the BSE and Rs 3,928.67 crore on the NSE. FIIs were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 123 crore on Thursday while domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 140 crore.

The Zee Telefilms scrip was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 5.85 per cent to close at Rs 150.30, Maruti Udyog was up 3.95 per cent to Rs 433.15, HPCL gained 2.13 per cent to Rs 333.60, Cipla gained 1.91 per cent to Rs 271.65 and ITC gained 1.81 per cent to Rs 1,441.30.

Ranbaxy was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 2.77 per cent to Rs 956.75, L&T fell by 2.43 per cent to Rs 1,009.45, HDFC Bank was down 1.02 per cent to Rs 541.20, Dr Reddy's was down 0.81 per cent to Rs 666.25 and HDFC was down 0.79 per cent to Rs 742.90.