Techs hog limelight

STOCKS REPORT

Voting for the political stability at the Centre, investors took the Sensex to one of the biggest bounce-backs in its history yesterday.

As mixed signals emerged during the early part of the day, shares took a severe plunge initially: the Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) 30-stock index crashed by 227 points in early trades to a low of 5,131.03. But as a clearer picture emerged, they recovered smartly, shooting up by 356 points to the day's high of 5,487.34 points.

The bellwether index finally closed up at 5,399.47, 0.77 per cent, or 41.12 points, higher than the Wednesday's close.

Market participants said investors cautiously welcomed the anticipated formation of a stable government led by the Congress party.

The breadth of the market was positive. Gainers outnumbered losers by 892-to-669 on the BSE. Twenty scrips in the Sensex basket ended higher.

Traded volumes, too, were higher. The turnover on the cash market of BSE stood at Rs 3253.70 crore and on the NSE at Rs 6885.91. This indicates that investors have come back to the markets after staying away for the last few days due to political uncertainty.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers on Wednesday at Rs 295 crore. They have been net sellers in May, so far, with outflows at Rs 1543.60 crore.

However, mutual funds were net buyers at Rs 223.90 crore on Wednesday. Brokers said foreign funds will now wait for some policy direction from the new government before taking a view.

Technology stocks gained the most yesterday. The BSE IT index surged 3.18 per cent. Satyam Computers was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 5.17 per cent to Rs 312.20, followed by Wipro, up 4.93 per cent to Rs 1603.70. Tech bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd gained 2.14 percent to Rs 5,199.35.

But PSU counters lost heavily, with the BSE PSU index falling 2.77 per cent. PSU stocks witnessed selling pressure on worries that the new government, which is set to be formed with the help of communist parties, would defer politically sensitive reforms such as privatisation.

MTNL was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket yesterday, falling 8.63 per cent to Rs 132.85, followed by PSU divestment candidate HPCL, down 7.15 per cent to Rs 380.05.