Banking on Chidambaram

STOCKS REPORT

Monsoon concerns failed to dampen enthusiasm in the market, built on expectations that the finance minister would review favourably on the transactions tax imbroglio in parliament on Tuesday.

Closing higher for the third straight session, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex hit an intra-day high of 5,009.63 before closing at 4,975.40, up 0.49 per cent (24.23 points). Blue chips had a mixed day with 19 scrips out of the 30-scrip Sensex basket closing higher, gainers outpaced losers 1295:508 on the BSE.

The BSE PSU index was the biggest gainer on Monday with the Sensex moving up on the back of strong quarterly earnings reported by companies so far, with concerns over an erratic monsoon taking a backseat.

The undertone was positive in the market and bargain buying in select scrips on the back of good results helped the market post gains on Monday, brokers said.

Kashyap Pujara, vice-president, Sushil Finance, said," Concerns over an erratic monsoon and the transaction tax still exist but players are hopeful that these will be unfounded eventually."

The finance minister is reported to have said that he would revisit the turnover tax numbers following demands from brokers to scrap the new turnover tax.

Volumes were lower than Friday's in the cash segment; turnover of Rs 1,656.04 crore was reported on the BSE and Rs 4,037.92 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 132.50 crore on Friday and domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 58.30 crore.

Zee Telefilms was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, up 4.70 per cent to Rs 132.50, followed by the ONGC scrip, up 4.39 per cent to Rs 697.35 and ICICI Bank was up 3.33 per cent to Rs 253.15. Cipla was up 2.50 per cent to Rs 239.50 and Dr Reddy's Labs gained 1.63 per cent to Rs 764.30. Tata Steel was up 1.96 per cent to Rs 345.50. Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 1.48 per cent to Rs 280.35 and Grasim gained 0.91 per cent to Rs 967.15.

Hero Honda Motors was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 2.25 per cent to Rs 451.75, followed by Tata Motors, down 1.46 per cent to Rs 407.65.

Wipro was up 0.51 per cent to Rs 528.70 and Satyam Computer gained 0.50 per cent to Rs 330.85. Heavyweights ITC was down 0.90 per cent to Rs 1,015.25, HLL fell 0.85 per cent to Rs 122.50 and Reliance Industries was down 0.22 per cent to Rs 423.50.

The BSE PSU index was up 1.63 per cent, followed by the consumer durables index, up 1.53 per cent and the Bankex gained 1.39 per cent. The BSE capital goods index was up 1.01 per cent and the IT sector index was up 0.51 per cent while the FMCG index was the only loser, down 0.24 per cent.