Profit booking takes toll

STOCKS REPORT

The markets ended the four-day winning streak as the 30-share BSE Sensex lost 19.11 points to end at 4,944.64. The Sensex moved in an intra-day range of 56 points hitting a high of 4,975.75 and a low of 4,919.94 on selling pressure in index heavyweights at the fag end of the trading. The NSE S&P CNX Nifty shed 3.55 points to end at 1,544.75.

The markets turned bearish as investors booked profit at higher levels on lack of fresh positive triggers.

The volumes were very low and accounted for mere Rs 1,463.07 crore at the BSE. After the Sensex gained 180 points in the last four trading sessions, there was profit booking at higher levels.

A leading BSE broker said, "The markets have remained lacklustre on lack of buying interest among investors. The market lacks confidence as there are no positive triggers and are expected to remain range bound till the budget announcement."

Among heavyweights, Hindustan Lever was the biggest loser, pulling the Sensex down. The stock, which was downgraded by a leading foreign broking firm, ended 2.81 per cent lower to Rs 129.80 on selling by institutional investors.

Even Reliance Industries ended 0.80 per cent lower to Rs 447.60 and State Bank of India ended 0.72 per cent lower to Rs 480.10 contributing to the overall weakness of the Sensex.

Oil refining PSUs were in limelight ahead of the government announcement on the new policy for petrol, diesel and LPG. Oil major HPCL was up 4.60 per cent to Rs 357.20, while BPCL ended 4.32 per cent higher to Rs 361.05.

Even Indian Oil gained 1 per cent to Rs 398.95 on hopes that the new government will allow a price hike. The government is expected to announce a new pricing policy by June 15.

Tech stocks continued to rally as investors continued to buy in a rather defensive sector. Tech major Infosys gained 0.92 per cent to Rs 5,270.55, Satyam gained 0.88 per cent to Rs 309.50, while Wipro ended 1.95 per cent higher on renewed buying. The stock closed at Rs 1,523.25 at the BSE on impressive volumes.

Reliance Energy witnessed volatile trades as the stock recovered from its intra-day low of Rs 525 to close at Rs 551.30, up 2.08 per cent over its previous close.

HDFC was up 2.26 per cent to Rs 378.50 on volumes of over 6.41 lakh shares traded on the counter on the BSE. MTNL gained 4.70 per cent to Rs 131.40 on back of expectations that the new government may ask PSU companies to declare higher dividends this year to help it raise revenues for its social programmes.

Britannia Industries ended 4.40 per cent higher to Rs 605.50 after the company announced another buy-back programme.

As per the programme, which will be conducted through open market purchases, the company has set a maximum buy-back price at Rs 650 per share. It plans to buy back a maximum of 25 lakh shares for an amount not exceeding Rs 78 crore.

White goods company Voltas ended 2.53 per cent higher to Rs 107.55 after the company announced impressive quarterly results on Wednesday.

For the quarter ended March 31, the company reported a 55 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 19.30 crore, while sales rose 7.6 per cent to Rs 407.40 crore.