Rosy quarterly results, downpour lift sentiment

STOCKS REPORT

Bluechips were in the limelight with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) PSU index and the BSE Bankex index""the two biggest gainers while auto and FMCG scrips were among the losers today.

The BSE Sensex rose almost 1 per cent (50.16 points) to close at 5,120.45, firmly above the 5,100 mark. The BSE PSU index was up 3.06 per cent and the Bankex index rose 1.91 per cent followed by the BSE IT index, up 1.52 per cent.

Blue chips had a good day on the bourses, gaining in the latter half of the day, with 23 of the 30 scrips in the Sensex basket closing higher, gainers outpaced losers 10:7 on the BSE.

Short-covering in blue chips lifted the market higher in the last hour's trade following the expiry of the July series futures contracts today, said brokers.

After trading in an extremely narrow range for most part of the day, stocks gained momentum with the smooth expiry of the futures contracts, they added. The Sensex hit a low of 5,051.49 and a high of 5,133.80 in intra-day trades.

Players said that the markets are reacting positively to the healthy quarterly earnings reported so far with investors optimistic of a better monsoon.

A strong demand for the country's biggest private sector IPO by Tata Consultancy Services has also enthused the market, said a dealer from a local brokerage.

Turnover was higher than Wednesday's, with the BSE reporting a turnover of Rs 1,999.66 crore in the cash segment and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a turnover of Rs 5,081.89 crore.

BHEL was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket today, gaining 4.46 per cent to Rs 537.75, followed by the Tata Steel scrip, up 3.85 per cent to Rs 392.65 and the Dr Reddy's Labs counter was up 3.53 per cent to Rs 771.35. Cipla was up 3.47 per cent to Rs 250.15 and ONGC gained 3.45 per cent to Rs 707.45.

The State Bank of India scrip was up 2.91 per cent to Rs 445.65, Wipro gained 2.73 per cent to Rs 541.25, ICICI Bank gained 2.34 per cent to Rs 264.20, Infosys Technologies gained 1.7 per cent to Rs 1,533.65, MTNL was up 1.68 per cent to Rs 129.85 and HPCL gained 1.65 per cent to Rs 317.50.

Hero Honda Motors was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 3.72 per cent to Rs 417.55, followed by the HLL scrip, down 3 per cent to Rs 118.20. Tata Motors fell 2.04 per cent to Rs 405.45 and Maruti Udyog fell 0.67 per cent to Rs 416.90.

Heavyweights ITC was up 1.07 per cent to Rs 1,045.65 and Reliance Industries gained 0.82 per cent to Rs 474.35.