Hind Lever singed on Dalal Street

STOCKS REPORT

FMCG giant and index heavyweight Hindustan Lever (HLL) slipped out of the top 5 position in terms of market cap for the first time today. The counter fell 4.60 per cent to Rs 144, dragging the BSE FMCG index by 1.64 per cent.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed in positive territory, marginally up by 0.19 per cent (10.60 points) at 5,535.69. The breadth of the market continued to remain negative with losers outpacing gainers 898:840.

The top gainers were the BSE Bankex, up 1.74 per cent to 2,840.72, the consumer durables index, up 1.34 per cent and the PSU index, up 1.10 per cent.

Lack of buying support was evident as players indicated that investors are looking to now enter at lower levels. Cash market turnovers at the BSE was at Rs 2,258.75 crore and on the NSE it was at Rs 4,647.35 crore.

The national Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty closed flat at 1,749.85.

Displaying extreme volatility, the Sensex alternated between positive and negative territories. Bargain buying in select counters helped the Sensex close in the positive. This was seen most in bluechip stocks that have been trading at their three month lows.

Most players were optimistic that liquidity in the market would improve as the money blocked in recent public offers such as IPCL, CMC, IBP, Dredging Corp of India, Gail India and ONGC returns back to the secondary market.

Says a dealer from a local brokerage, "the market may continue to remain range-bound as the general elections near with players likely to take a wait-and-watch approach before making a long-term call on the market."

Tech bellwether Infosys Technologies was up 1.69 per cent to Rs 5,032.70, Satyam Computer was up 1.12 per cent to Rs 301.50 and Wipro was up 0.49 per cent to Rs 1,469.45.

Bajaj Auto was up 4.18 per cent to Rs 854, Tata Motors was up 1.43 per cent to Rs 467.40.

Zee Telefilms was up 4.10 per cent to Rs 120.55.

ONGC gained 2.28 per cent to Rs 853 and State Bank of India gained up 1.29 per cent to Rs 579.50.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 2.60 per cent to Rs 290.10, L&T was up 2.26 per cent to Rs 572.35 and ACC was up 0.83 per cent to Rs 248.45. Reliance Industries lost 0.46 per cent to Rs 539.70 and ITC was down 0.40 per cent to Rs 1,082.

GlxoSmithKline Pharma fell 9.69 per cent to Rs 569 and Burroughs Wellcome was down 6.98 per cent to Rs 790.15.