Capital goods hog limelight

STOCK REPORT

Buying in shares of capital goods companies came to the rescue of indices once again, and helped the market end up 0.2 per cent. The BSE Capital Goods Index, up 1.1 per cent, was the top gainer among BSE sectoral indices.

"We are bullish on earnings of capital goods companies for April-June, and coming quarters as well," said Shailesh Kanani, analyst, Angel Broking.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex gained 3 per cent last week, mainly on account of gains in capital goods counters. The BSE Capital Goods Index rose 3 per cent last week.

The session was volatile as investors were nervous ahead of June futures contract expiry Thursday, and due to weakness in the Asian and the US markets.

The Sensex ended at 14487.72, up 20.36 points or 0.1 per cent from Friday. Intraday, it moved between 14424.71 and 14521.62.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty ended at 4259.40, up 7.35 points or 0.2 per cent. Intraday, it moved between 4236.30 and 4264.25.

Turnover on both the exchanges was roughly Rs 12,620 crore compared with Rs 14,900 crore on Friday.

Volumes were low as investors preferred to be on the sidelines and wait for April-June earnings of companies, which will start pouring in from next week.

The CNX Midcap Index and the S&P CNX 500 Index ended flat.

Shares of capital goods companies were up on good earnings visibility for the sector, dealers said. The sector is expected to maintain healthy rise in earnings on the back of rise in infrastructure expenditure in the country, and bulging order books of companies, analysts said.

Siemens India was up 4 per cent at Rs 1,359. Larsen & Toubro, which will mull special dividend on July 3, ended up 3 per cent at Rs 2,174.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp ended up 1 per cent at Rs 917 after reporting 8 per cent on year rise in net profit for 2006-07 at Rs 15,640 crore. The company declared 310 per cent dividend for 2006-07.

Reliance Petroleum, up 5 per cent at Rs 101, was the top Nifty gainer after HSBC upgraded it to "outperform" from "underperform".

Hindalco Industries rose 1 per cent to Rs 171 following block deals of 1.98 million and 3.8 million shares on NSE and BSE, respectively.