Weekly Mkt Review: Sensex gains 126pts

Powered by robust third-quarter earnings, the Sensex rallied to a new all-time intra-day high of 14,326. Some profit-taking towards the end saw the index pare gains, but still closed with a gain of 126 points at 14,183 for the week ended January 19.

Similarly, the Nifty soared to a new peak at 4140, and eventually finished with a gain of 38 points at 4090.

While the Sensex has gained 711 points in the last four weeks, the Nifty has surged 219 points in the same period.

Small- and mid-cap stocks were in the limelight during the week with the BSE mid-cap index touching an all-time high. The small cap index rose 2.56%, while the mid cap index rose 1.69%. With Siemens and Larsen & Toubro leading the rally, the capital goods index outperformed all other indices with gains of 2.9%.

Deccan Chronicle: Split gains

The board's proposal to sub-divide equity shares of Rs 10 each into 5 equity shares of Rs 2 each worked well with the stock hitting an all-time high of Rs 883.75 last week. The stock closed at Rs 850.15, up 6% with average daily volume of 21,000 shares.

The stock is traded at a price-to-earning multiple of 26.05 times trailing 12-month profit of Rs 146.11 crore. The sector P/E is lower at 22.05. The board also declared an interim dividend of 50 per cent (Rs 5 per share) just to celebrate its healthy performance during the quarter ended December 2006. The company posted 52% rise in Q3 net profit at Rs 48.44 crore. Income from operations jumped 44% to Rs 146.39 crore (Rs 101.64 crore. The net profit, however, more than doubled in the first nine months (April-December) to Rs 136 crore.

3i Infotech: Capital push

The company is planning to issue two crore shares to raise resources from either the domestic or overseas markets. The stock gained 7.11% to Rs 296 after the board decision, and hit a life-time high of Rs 301 during intra-day trades on Friday. The stock appreciated 27% from the week-ago close of Rs 233.60.