Flaccid undertone

STOCKS REPORT

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex witnessed another lacklustre day on Wednesday, with the benchmark Sensex closing at 4,963.75 points, up 0.02 per cent (1.12 points), hitting a low of 4,945.24 and a high of 5,000.59 in intra-day trades. The 30-scrip Sensex saw 17 scrips closing higher with gainers outpacing losers 942:700 on the BSE.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty fell marginally by 2.25 points to close at 1,548.30. Brokers attributed lack of activity as the main reason for the current state of the market but some players added that this could be the proverbial lull before the storm and we may just see some heightened activity in the next few days.

Said a dealer from a local brokerage, "Markets lack impetus just now, with most other factors such as rising crude prices, upturn in the US markets and the government jig on CMP already discounted."

Volumes were higher in the cash markets on Wednesday than on Tuesday with turnover of Rs 1,715.21 crore reported on the BSE and Rs 3,890 crore on the NSE.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to be buyers of Indian shares on Tuesday, with net inflows of Rs 42.70 crore, bringing net inflows in June to Rs 592.90 crore so far. Mutual funds were net sellers of shares worth Rs 4.1 crore on Tuesday and have accounted for net outflows of Rs 130.80 crore in June so far.

The BSE consumer durables sector index was the biggest gainer on Wednesday, up 2.30 per cent, followed by the BSE capital goods index, up 1.08 per cent and the healthcare index was up 0.90 per cent. The BSE Bankex gained 0.63 per cent, TECk index was up 0.33 per cent while the BSE FMCG index fell marginally by 0.11 per cent.

Auto scrips witnessed buying in a subdued market. Maruti Udyog was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, gaining 5.08 per cent to Rs 418.05 and Tata Motors was up 1.44 per cent to Rs 412.55.

MTNL gained 4.32 per cent to Rs 125.50, HPCL was up 3.48 per cent to Rs 341.50 and BHEL gained 1.68 per cent to Rs 472.55 while ONGC fell 2.23 per cent to Rs 655.50.

Brokers said that state-run refinery stocks received buying support on hopes they would be allowed to raise oil prices. BPCL gained 3.5 per cent to Rs 341.5 and IOC was up 2 per cent to Rs 393.10.

Zee Telefilms was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 5.06 per cent to Rs 134.05, followed by Reliance Energy, down 3.67 per cent to Rs 540.05.

Heavyweights, the State Bank of India scrip was up 0.20 per cent to Rs 483.60 and ITC gained 0.10 per cent to Rs 894.65 while Reliance Industries was down 1.03 per cent to Rs 451.20 and HLL was down 1.04 per cent to Rs 133.55.