Cement, banking stocks scale up

The Sensex is down 18 points at 6,661. While lacklustre trend is still prevailing in select heavyweight, pharma and other old economy counters, fresh buying has emerged in cement and banking stocks.

The Nifty is down eight points at 2,107.

Reliance, with a volume of over 18 lakh, is down 1.73% (Rs 9) at Rs 534. ITC has rolled back into the green to Rs 1,318 - up Rs 5. HLL is trading higher with a gain of 1.77% (Rs 3) at Rs 147.

Infosys is still trading with a per cent loss (Rs 22) at Rs 2,095. While Wipro is down Rs 3 at Rs 750, Satyam is marginally up at Rs 412.

Dr. Reddy's has shed 2% (Rs 18) to Rs 848. While Ranbaxy is down a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 1,243, Cipla is up a tad at Rs 319.

Bharti, on a volume of over 38.85 lakh, is down a rupee at Rs 227.

SBI, on a volume of over 9.8 lakh, is down a rupee at Rs 654. HDFC Bank is down a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 522.

Cement counters have attracted buying support following higher despatches in December. Grasim has jumped 4% (Rs 16) to Rs 424. While ACC has scaled up 3.10% (Rs 11) to Rs 352, Grasim is up a per cent (Rs 13) at Rs 1,340.

Banking stocks have firmed up on strong buying support. IDBI Bank has soared 10.61% (Rs 8) to Rs 79. While Canara Bank has advanced 5.71% (Rs 12) to Rs 226, PNB has moved up 5.11% (Rs 21) to Rs 439. Kotak Bank and BoI are up 4% each at Rs 295 and Rs 100, respectively. OBC at Rs 344 (up Rs 9 or 2.64%), Union Bank at Rs 113 (up Rs 3 or 3%) and BoB at Rs 249 (up Rs 4 or 1.49%) have also registered decent gains.

Tata Elxsi has shot up 10.42% (Rs 16) to Rs 174. Jindal Polymers and JK Corp have notched up 10% gains each to Rs 447 and Rs 46, respectively. Himachal Futuristics has moved up 9.90% to Rs 22.

Man Industries and Tata Tele have mopped up nearly 8% gains each to Rs 111 and Rs 36, respectively. While William Tea has jumped 6.25% to Rs 156, Neyville Lignite has gained 6.24% to Rs 78.

Hindustan Constructions, however, has shed 4.90% (Rs 18) to Rs 357, and HMT has dipped 4.36% (Rs 2) to Rs 50. While Sun Pharma has slipped 3.66% (Rs 20) to Rs 535, Clariant is down 3.11% (Rs 9) at Rs 280. Nocil is trading lower by 3.11% at Rs 23.

Reliance is leading the value chart with a turnover of Rs 95 crore, followed by Bharti (Rs 88 crore), SBI (Rs 59 crore), Tisco (Rs 44 crore) and Infosys (Rs 31 crore), respectively.