On the ascend

STOCKS REPORT

Strong gains in frontline stocks and renewed buying interest in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables and Bankex helped the Sensex breach the 6800 levels in Monday's trading.

After a brief correction at the end of the last week, the bulls were back in action as the Sensex gained 50.69 points to close at 6832.68. The Nifty ended 12.15 points higher at 2102.75.

A head of equity with a domestic broking firm said, "There is enough liquidity in the system which is driving up the markets. However, monsoons are a big concern and any delay will adversely affect the auto and FMCG stocks."

Rising oil prices and delayed monsoon are signs of worry and markets are expected to remain range bound. Though the market gained on the back of strong gains in stocks such as ICICI Bank and L&T on Monday, the undertone in the market is cautious with a negative bias in the short term, said a head of research with a domestic broking firm.

The breadth of the market turned positive with 1,445 stocks advancing as against 1,092 stocks declining. Among the 30 share Sensex basket, 16 shares ended positive on Monday. The volumes were moderate and accounted for Rs 1,995.60 crore on BSE and Rs 3,892.42 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

In the Sensex basket, the big gainers were Larsen & Toubro, up 4.46 per cent to Rs 1,149.35, ICICI Bank was up 4.13 per cent to Rs 423.90, HLL was up 2.89 per cent to Rs 149.60, Satyam Computer was up 1.94 per cent to Rs 472.80, ONGC was up 1.85 per cent to Rs 918.30, Gujarat Ambuja was up 1.23 per cent to Rs 460, HDFC Bank was up 1.16 per cent to Rs 582.70 and Bharti Tele-Ventures was up 0.91 per cent to Rs 222.10.

The BSE FMCG index was a big gainer, up 1.22 per cent to close at 1213.12, following BSE Consumer Durable and Bankex index. Among the gainers in the FMCG pack besides HLL, Rayban Sun Optics was up 2.75 per cent to Rs 80.30, Colgate was up 2.66 per cent to Rs 237.05, Henkel Spic was up 1.98 per cent to Rs 28.30, Procter & Gamble was up 1.24 per cent to Rs 630.

Among the top losers in this sector were Godrej Consumers, down 2.34 per cent to Rs 323.25, JL Morison, down 2.3 per cent to Rs 194.70 and Dabur India ended 1.09 per cent lower at Rs 127.40. Select bank stocks continue to rally on renewed buying interest.

Karnataka Bank was up 6.9 per cent to Rs 96.10, ICICI Bank was up 4.13 per cent to Rs 423.90, Corporation Bank was up 3.6 per cent to Rs 373.00, State Bank of Travancor was up 2.82 per cent to Rs 2,375.05 and State Bank of Mysore was up 2.7 per cent to Rs 2,615.

BSE IT index recovered after a correction in Friday's trading. Among the frontliners, Infosys Technologies was up 0.35 per cent to Rs 2,221.15, TCS was up 0.43 per cent to Rs 1,271.30, while Wipro ended at Rs 722, down 0.21 per cent.

Sources said, the FIIs are actively buying into frontline stocks. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 261.8 crore on Friday while domestic mutual funds were net sellers to the tune of Rs 30.10 crore.

Investors booked profit in auto stocks on concerns of delayed monsoon. The BSE Auto index was down for the second consecutive day to close at 2842.82, down 0.08 per cent.

Hindustan Motors was down 1.73 per cent to Rs 31.25, Swaraj Mazda was down 1.45 per cent to Rs 340, Bajaj Auto was 1.26 per cent to Rs 1,222.70, Eicher was down 1.16 per cent to Rs 153.85 and Hero Honda was down 0.99 per cent to Rs 545.85.

Among index losers, HDFC was down 1.58 per cent to Rs 830.4, Tata Steel was down 1.08 per cent to Rs 330.80, NTPC was down 0.64 per cent to Rs 85, ACC was down 0.47 per cent to Rs 381.90 and Grasim Industries was down 0.26 per cent to Rs 1,093.90.