Banks, energy indices stand tall

STOCK MARKETS IN FIRST-HALF

Refineries, banks, cement, non-ferrous metals, construction, telephone cables, auto ancillaries and service sectors have shined on the bourses in the first half of 2006-07, while sugar, tea and coffee, aviation, aluminum, forgings, food products, diamond and jewellery, engines and fertilisers have ended on the losing side.

Sectoral indices compiled by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) show that except for IT and bankex, all other sectors ended the first half losing between 5 and 10 per cent from their levels of May 10 when the Sensex reached its peak.

Even the IT index has underperformed the BSE Sensex in the first half as it has risen by 9 per cent against the Sensex gain of 10.4 per cent.

Only bankex and BSE oil & gas index have outperformed the Sensex in the first half by posting returns of over 15 per cent each.

The oil & gas index "" led by Reliance Industries "" posted 18 per cent returns and Bankex, led by two new private sector banks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, posted 14.7 per cent H1 returns. Among other indices, BSE auto index registered a modest 0.8 per cent returns and capital goods index rose by 0.40 per cent.

The BSE FMCG index was the biggest underperformer in H1, down 6.59 per cent.

The FMCG major Hindustan Lever and ITC posted modest loss in market value of around four to five per cent while Colgate, Godrej Consumer, Nirma and Procter & Gamble lost over 15-20 per cent each.

The BSE healthcare index was the second largest loser, down 4.50 per cent.

Wockhardt (down 20.8 per cent) and Glaxo (down 15 per cent) were major underperformers while Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's posted modest H1 gains.

The metal index was the third biggest loser. Aluminum and steel stocks were down over 10 per cent each while copper and zinc stocks appreciated by over 23 per cent each.

Among 123 sectors compiled by Business Standard Research Bureau, 21 sectors performed well posting H1 gains of over 10 per cent each and another 15 made single-digit gains.

Construction sector was the biggest gainers, up 37.7 per cent, followed by carbon black (+34.6 per cent), cement (+25.9 per cent), glassware (+24.7 per cent), cables (+23.9 per cent), refineries (+19.4 per cent) and companies with diversified activities (+18.34 per cent).

Of the 123 sectors, 71 posted negative returns in the first half.

Among underperformer, the market values of 39 sectors declined by over 10 per cent and 32 others registered decline of 5-10 per cent.

Sugar stocks were largest losers with the aggregate market capitalisation of thirty-eight sugar companies declining 43 per cent from Rs 29,881 crore on March 31 to Rs 16,910 crore on September 29.

Balrampur Chini (down 45.8 per cent), Triveni Engineering (down 43.5 per cent) and Bajaj Hindustan (down 35.5 per cent) were biggest losers among frontline sugar companies while Renuka Sugar (down 58.5 per cent) and Dhampur Sugar (down 53.6 per cent) were biggest losers among mid cap sugar firms.

The aviation sector was the second largest loser, posting a decline 36 per cent. Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Jagson Airlines declined by over 35 per cent each.

The other major H1 losers were cycles & accessories (down 27.5 per cent), steel alloys (down 20.4 per cent), electrical equipment (down 20.1 per cent) and pesticides (down 19.4 per cent).

Pharmaceutical, automobile- four wheelers, integrated steel, electronics, paper, engineering, hospital, food processing, fertilizers, chemicals and machine tools sectors have lost their market value by 5-10 per cent.