NDA tilt lends booster

STOCKS REPORT

The market sentiment was positive, while traded volumes were low on the bourses, as the country entered the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.

Opinion polls ahead of Wednesday's polls indicated the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would regain lost ground in the earlier rounds. The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed at 5686.19, a gain of 39.04 points.

The market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers in the 1067:680 ratio on the BSE. The Sensex saw 23 scrips closing higher.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty rose 16.80 points to close at 1,809.90.

Traded volumes were lower with the cash market turnover at Rs 2,469.22 crore on the BSE and Rs 3,924.15 crore on the NSE.

The BSE PSU index was the biggest gainer on the BSE, up 1.02 per cent followed by the IT sector index up 0.86 per cent. The Bankex fell 0.50 per cent and the FMCG sector index was down 0.17 per cent.

Trading was in the positive territory for the entire day, selling pressure in afternoon trades dragged the market down but buying resumed in stocks towards close of the session, lifting the Sensex to the day's high of 5695.15 points at the fag end of the day.

Brokers said the market was expecting the NDA to win which will push ahead the reforms process, including privatisation. HDFC was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks, up 3.85 per cent to Rs 645.15, while Zee Telefilms was the biggest loser, down 3.86 per cent to Rs 130.60.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was up 2.60 per cent at Rs 463.40, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd gained 0.99 per cent to Rs 148.35 and Oil and Natural Gas was up 0.74 per cent to Rs 847.75.

Larsen & Toubro was up 3.43 per cent to Rs 583.40, Grasim gained 3.08 per cent to Rs 1,187.25, Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 0.77 per cent to Rs 339.10 and ACC was up 1.42 per cent to Rs 289.75.

Infosys Technologies was up 0.85 per cent to Rs 5,260.50, Wipro was up 0.70 per cent to Rs 1,605.20 and Satyam Computer gained 0.18 per cent to Rs 324.95. Bharti Tele-Ventures was up 3.25 per cent to Rs 173, while Tata Steel gained 1.46 per cent to Rs 355.

Tata Motors was up 1.52 per cent to Rs 482.2 and Hero Honda gained 1.36 per cent to Rs 481.05.

HDFC Bank gained 1.64 per cent to Rs 382.1 and State Bank of India was up 0.37 per cent to Rs 642.6 and ICICI Bank fell 1.71 per cent to Rs 301.60.