Midcaps hog the limelight

STOCKS REPORT

A cooling off in global crude prices to $58 a barrel and firm global indices pumped up Indian markets. After a jittery fist half of trading session, investors bought shares of select frontline and mid-cap stocks. The benchmark BSE Sensex closed at 7119.88, up 70.88 points. The Nifty ended 21.8 points higher to close at 2191.65.

Dealers said, "Fresh inflows from foreign funds and renewed buying interest from institutional investors helped the Sensex recover most of its Tuesday's loss."

Liquidity provided by large foreign funds is driving up the market, the dealers added. A lot of short positions also were covered resulting in a bounce back ahead of the expiry of June futures tomorrow, said a BSE broker.

The breadth of the market turned positive with 1,485 stocks advancing as against 1,000 stocks declining.

Of the 30 shares in the BSE basket, only 8 ended negative. The volumes too were moderate and accounted for Rs 2,702.11 crore on BSE and Rs 5,282.29 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Among the big gainers in frontline stocks, Tata Motors was up 2.47 per cent to Rs 426.85, HDFC Bank was up 2.44 per cent to Rs 602.40, Reliance was up 2.07 per cent to Rs 642.10, Dr Reddy's gained 1.99 per cent to Rs 740.75 and Wipro ended 1.90 per cent higher to close at Rs 754.25.

All the indices ended positive on Wednesday. BSE Oil &Gas index was the biggest gainer, up 1.53 per cent to 3359.71, followed by the BSE IT index, up 1.29 per cent to 2813.70 and the BSE TECK index gained 1.26 per cent to 1833.33.

The top gainers in the Oil and Gas index, Petronet LNG was up 2.80 per cent to Rs 42.20, Bongaigaon Refineries was up 1.82 per cent to Rs 92.20, ONGC was up 1.66 per cent to Rs 994.30, HPCL was up 0.94 per cent to Rs 312.15 and Kochi Refineries was up 0.22 per cent at Rs 159.80.

IT stocks witnessed renewed buying on Wednesday. Among the top gainers, Zenith Infotech was up 12.93 per cent to Rs 34.50, Geodesic Info was up 12.50 per cent to Rs 145.35, Mindteck (I) was up 9.68 per cent to Rs 44.75, Financial Technology was up 7.86 per cent to Rs 474.80 and Mascon Global was up 7.85 per cent at Rs 20.60.

However, profit booking led to Ramco Systems dipping 2 per cent to Rs 342.60, HCL Infosystems 1.39 per cent to Rs 788.85 and PCS Technologies 1.38 per cent to Rs 39.30.

The BSE Bankex ended marginally higher on back of gains in stocks such as J&K Bank, up 5.47 per cent to Rs 363.20, UTI Bank, up 2.47 per cent to Rs 242.40, HDFC Bank, up 2.44 per cent to Rs 602.40, Centurion Bank, up 2.09 per cent to Rs 15.12 and SBI, up 1.62 per cent at Rs 672.60.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 521.80 crore on Thursday, while domestic mutual funds went net sellers to the tune of Rs 211.94 crore.

The top gainers in the auto sector were Tata Motors, up 2.47 per cent to Rs 426.85, HMT was up 2.15 per cent to Rs 45.15, Bajaj Auto was up 1.66 per cent to Rs 1,353.65, TVS Motor was up 1.23 per cent to Rs 74 and Swaraj Mazda was up 0.72 per cent at Rs 376.70.

Meanwhile, Maruti Udyog ended 2.70 per cent lower at Rs 461.05, Eicher Motors was down 2.28 per cent to Rs 298.05 and Mahindra & Mahindra ended 1.90 per cent lower at Rs 555.25.