Cement, metals lead recovery

STOCK REPORT

In late afternoon trades, it was again the index stocks which led the recovery today. The benchmark BSE Sensex made higher gains than all other more broad-based indices. While auto and pharma stocks fared badly on Thursday, cement, metals, banking and IT led the charge.

Ranbaxy Labs, the biggest loser among the Nifty stocks, was down 2.53 per cent to Rs 420.6. Tata Tea (Rs 889.20, down 2.4 per cent), Bharti (Rs 382.4, down 2.3 per cent), Hero Honda (Rs 880.60, down 2.26 per cent) and Maruti (Rs 867.15, down 1.8 per cent) followed.

The gainers on the Nifty were led by cement stocks Gujarat Ambuja (up 6.52 per cent to Rs 98), ACC (up 4.98 per cent to Rs 749.70) and Grasim (up 4.41 per cent to Rs 1,891).

Capital goods major ABB, too, kept up the pace with 3.59 per cent gain to Rs 2,950.70. Nalco (up 2.4 per cent to Rs 285.2) and Dr Reddy's (up 2.2 per cent Rs 1,332.55) also ended in the positive territory. IT majors Infosys, Satyam and Wipro held their ground.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE IT Index gained maximum at 1.09 per cent while the biggest drop was registered by the Auto Index as it dipped 0.8 per cent.

Consumer durables and healthcare indices, too, ended in the red today. Banking index was up by a little more than one per cent, while metal index rose 0.8 per cent.

Interestingly, gains were sharper for the narrower indices today, with the 100 stock index on the BSE showing a 0.57 per cent appreciation and both the 200 and 500 stock indices making a more moderate gain of 0.51 per cent.

Other stock movements were as follows: RIL up by Rs 7.25 per cent to Rs 726.70, SBI by Rs 17.65 to Rs 905.90, Tata Steel by Rs 8.10 to Rs 451.90, ICICI Bank by Rs 11.20 to 590.55, ONGC by Rs 4.80 to Rs 1,141.10, HLL by Rs 2.30 to 244.50 and TCS by Rs 6.10 to Rs 1,722.60.