Bargain buys booster

STOCKS REPORT

Equities bounced back today on bargain hunting at lower levels, after declining consecutively for the past three days.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) 30-share index, Sensex, gained 0.61 per cent, or 32.45 points, to end at 5,358.35. The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty gained 0.69 per cent, or 11.65 points, to close at 1,711.10.

Technology counters were in the limelight, boosted by overnight gains on the Nasdaq, with sentiment for the export-driven sector also helped by the rupee's recent weakness against the dollar. The BSE IT index was the largest gainer in sectoral index: the benchmark tech index went up by 1.08 per cent.

Shares in Wipro were up 1.34 per cent at Rs 1,528.40, Infosys Technologies gained 0.70 per cent to Rs 5,090.35 and Satyam Computer was up 0.03 per cent to Rs 296.85.

The breadth of the market was positive today, with gainers outnumbering losers by 948-to-731 on the BSE. In Sensex, 22 stocks closed higher.

Players said the sentiment was that of caution ahead of the vote-counting on Thursday. Despite initial volatility in early trades, the market was steady in the second half of the session.

Selective bargain hunting was seen. A dealer from a local brokerage said," Political uncertainty and other factors, such as fears of an imminent hike in US interest rates and rising oil prices, played on the sentiment."

Traded volumes were marginally higher than those on Tuesday: the cash market turnover stood at Rs 2,082 crore on the BSE and at Rs 4798.61 crore on the NSE. This indicates that investors were unfazed the unclear political outlook.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries was up 1.40 per cent to Rs 496.60, Hindustan Lever was up 1.06 per cent to Rs 142.40 and State Bank of India was up 0.58 per cent to Rs 620.80.

The two biggest losers in the Sensex basket were HDFC, down 4.41 per cent at Rs 582.70, and Hindalco, down 2.58 per cent at Rs 966.90.

Bargain buying was seen among cement, auto and metal stocks. ACC was up 3.61 per cent to Rs 277.20 and L&T was up 2.64 per cent to Rs 541.95.

Tata Motors was up 2.74 per cent to Rs 440.60, Bajaj Auto gained 2.49 per cent to Rs 935.85 and Hero Honda Motor was up 0.76 per cent to Rs 463.55. MTNL was up 2 per cent to Rs 145.40, ONGC gained 1.29 per cent to Rs 837.90 and Bhel was up 0.74 per cent to Rs 574.90.

HPCL fell 2.29 per cent to Rs 409.30. Grasim fell 1.06 per cent to Rs 1,111.55 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements was down 0.38 per cent to Rs 316.05.