Capital goods stocks fuel rise

Capital goods stocks continued to outpace the market averages on Wednesnday on the back of huge traded volumes.

Spectacular results of power equipment major BHEL seems to have triggered a fresh round of buying in a sector which, according to analysts, is already over-owned.

The capital goods index hit an all-time high of 8734.21 intra-day and ended at 8726.48, 2.60 per cent above its previous close. The Sensex jumped 0.94 per cent and settled at 11746.90.

BHEL reported a 39 per cent growth in revenues at Rs 14,410 crore with a 70 per cent rise in annual profits at Rs 1621 crore. It has bagged a Rs 1,200 crore contract from Gujarat Industrial Power Corporation. The company's encouraging performance has brought equipment companies into limelight.

Shares of another bellwether engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro spurted 4.22 per cent on the back of announcement that the company had bagged its first annuity-based road project worth Rs 550 crore from the National Highways Authority of India to be completed in 30 months.

Also buzz of a bonus issue is attracting investors to the counter. The scrip, which enjoyed the highest turnover of Rs 19,572 lakh on the BSE, saw volumes of 7.61 lakh shares.

Praj Industries stock moved up by 12.13 per cent to settle at Rs. 161.25.

The counter attracted huge volumes of 21.89 lakh shares during the day against a two week average volume of 9.33 lakh shares.

The major gainers were Praj Industries (12.13 per cent), Greaves Cotton (9.45 per cent), Esab India (6.29 per cent), Usha Martin (6.29 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (4.22 per cent), Crompton Greaves (2.77 per cent), BEML (3.47 per cent), Alfa Laval (3.19 per cent), Thermax (3.34 per cent), Alstom Projects (3.02 per cent), Bharat Electronics (2.47 per cent) and ABB (2.92 per cent).

Alstom Projects (6.3 lakh shares), Thermax (5.03 lakh shares), Usha Martin(2.55 lakh shares), Greaves Cotton (2.49 lakh shares) and Mcnally Bharat(2.35 lakh shares) also enjoyed substantial volumes.