On a flat run

STOCK REPORT

The Sensex suffered a steep fall from the intra-day high of 7843.77 after gaining 88 points in the first 30 minutes of morning trade. The sensitive index saw heavy selling pressure during the late hours.

The Reliance scrip plunged 3.81 per cent to Rs 713.70 after its AGM on Wednesday, as the investor expectations on its overseas aquisitions received a set back. REL, IPCL and Reliance Capital also depreciated.

The Sensex closed at 7756.47, marginally high to yesterday's closing of 7756.04 gaining a meagre 0.43 points. At the NSE, the Nifty was up 3.35 points during the day's close at 2357.

The cash market turnover of both BSE and NSE together accounted for an enormous 13,331 crore - a five year high. The volumes traded in both BSE and NSE were of very high levels. While the trade in BSE amounted to Rs 4,517 crore, on the NSE it was Rs 8,794.62 crore.

Foreign institutional investors continued their uninhibited cash flow into the Indian market. The FIIs were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 563.80 crore on Tuesday, while domestic mutual funds were net buyers of Rs 116.05 crore. The market breadth was negetive as 1665 stocks declined at BSE as against 861 scrips that advanced.

Among the 30 shares in the benchmark index, the Larsen & Toubro scrip was the highest gainer, up 3.81 per cent to Rs 1,291.55 after it announced signing of an MoU to set up a plant in China.

The Bajaj Auto scrip followed with a rise of 3.29 per cent to Rs 1,515.10. ITC surged 2.68 per cent to Rs 1,713.85 after it announced September 28 as the record date for stock split and bonus issue.

IT pivotals gained powered by the four year high achieved by Nasdaq. Both Satyam and Infosys ended the day with a big appreciation in their stock prices. While the Satyam scrip went up 3.58 per cent to Rs 544.25 and Infy closed 2.48 per cent higher at Rs 2,357.10.

The global copper and aluminium prices which stabilized added to the second day rally of Hindalco (1.72 per cent) while the high global crude oil prices added strength to the ONGC scrip (0.86 per cent). Other major gainers in the index were Grasim (1.52 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.08 per cent), Dr Reddy's Labs (1.02 per cent) and SBI (0.98 per cent).

Among the indices, the BSE oil and gas index was the highest loser, down 2.04 per cent. The BSE capital goods index was the highest gainer up 2.10 per cent followed by the BSE IT index up 2.24 per cent.

Apart from the heavyweights, other scrips that gathered strength in the IT sector were Geodesic Information systems (6.60 per cent), Polaris Software (5.19 per cent), i-flex solution (4.59 per cent), KPIT Cummins (4.13 per cent) and HCL Technology (3.78).