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Sensex sheds 7 points after lacklustre session

The market closed flat once again on Thursday after a lacklustre trading session.

After moving in a range of 35 points, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) settled with a loss of 6.78 points at 3,404.86.

Unit Trust of India (UTI) was a major buyer in select heavyweight pivotals ahead of the close of its financial year.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were also active in a number of New as well as Old Economy stocks. Overall, the market has turned cautious ahead of the fast-approaching 2 July 2001 deadline banning carry-forward trading.

With net outstanding positions having come down sharply to around Rs 300 crore on BSE, there were no signs of any panic in the market. Players informed that the market could take care of the outstanding positions till the 2 September 2001 deadline without causing a major slide in stock prices.

The lower-than-expected 0.25% cut in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve to 3.75% did not have a major impact on the market sentiment.

The BSE Sensex opened flat at 4,311.68. After initial volatility, the Sensex moved in a narrow range for the rest of the session. It touched an intra-day high of 3,427.37 and a low of 3,391.72 during the session. In the end, the Sensex settled at 3,404.86, losing 6.78 points from its previous close.

The National Stock Exchange's S& P CNX Nifty Index shed 2.10 points to 1,094.

Turnover on BSE dropped to Rs 1,016.03 crore (Rs 1,593.24 crore on 27 June 2001) from 6.36 crore shares traded. Of the 1,411 issues traded, declines outnumbered advances with 705 losers and 554 gainers. 152 issues remained unchanged.

Pivotal stocks

Pivotals displayed mixed trends.

ICICI (down 5.29% to Rs 73.40) declined on selling pressure. A leading US-based FII was said to have turned a buyer on the ICICI counter earlier this week. With this FII now losing interest in the stock, operators were believed to have dumped it.

MTNL (down 3.73% to Rs 125.15) slipped further. Securities firm Cazenove & Company has cut the state-run telecom service provider's rating to 'hold' from 'buy' and cut its 12-month price target by 36% to Rs 150, saying chances of negative developments outweighed the positive ones.

Other public sector undertaking (PSU) pivotals like HPCL (down 4.35% to Rs 156) and Bhel (down 2.48% to Rs 164.95) declined on unwinding of long positions.

Among tech pivotals, NIIT came off from an intra-day high of Rs 382 to Rs 362.80 before recovering to Rs 371.55, losing 0.71% from its previous close. The stock had gained over 25% in the last couple of sessions on massive institutional buying.

Satyam Computer declined from a high of Rs 176 to Rs 166.05 before settling at Rs 169.80, down 0.21% from its previous close. Satyam topped volumes on BSE with close to 50 lakh shares being traded.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.78% to Rs 1,580) lost ground on profit-booking, after a recent spurt. The scrip had gained nearly 12% in the last seven sessions. The interest on the counter was on expectations that the Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk may take one of the two diabetes drugs licensed from the company into phase III trials.

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) heavyweights ITC (down 1.61% to Rs 772.25) and Hindustan Lever (down 0.40% to Rs 197) slipped on sustained unwinding of long positions by operators.

BSES (down 0.08% to Rs 195) closed flat ahead of the announcement of its FY 2001 results. For the year ended 31 March 2001, the Mumbai-based power utility posted a 4.74% rise in net profit to Rs 321.37 crore (Rs 306.82 crore) on sales of Rs 2,687.32 crore (Rs 2,338.44 crore).

Stocks like Tata Steel, Reliance Petroleum, Bajaj Auto and Castrol also settled in the red.

Meanwhile, Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 2.19% to Rs 499.60) posted gains on renewed buying support after the company denied having made a bid to buy out Specialty Laboratories Inc. in the joint venture Specialty Ranbaxy. FIIs were said to have been active on the Ranbaxy counter.

Tech major Infosys Technologies moved up from a low of Rs 3,492 to Rs 3,642 on sustained institutional buying. The stock settled at Rs 3,605.90, gaining 1.92% over its previous close. Brokerage house Salomon Smith Barney was believed to have been active on the Infosys counter since the last couple of sessions for its FII clients.

After a subdued start, media major Zee Telefilms jumped from an intra-day low of Rs 111.05 to Rs 121.55. However, unwinding of positions by speculators pulled down the stock to Rs 114.45, still up 1.69% over its previous close.

State Bank of India (up 1.55% to Rs 219.80) gained ground on hopes of an imminent cut in the domestic interest rates, after the US Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates on Wednesday.

UTI was said to have turned a buyer in the other heavyweight, Reliance Industries, (up 0.78% to Rs 361.25). FIIs were also active on the counter.

M & M (up 1.54% to Rs 82.65) recovered on bargain hunting at lower levels. The tractors and utility vehicles major, however, came off from its intra-day high of Rs 85.90 on profit-booking. M & M had touched its eight-year low of Rs 81 on Wednesday on sustained selling pressure.

Food and dairy products major Nestle (up 1.29% to Rs 545.05) rose further after its shareholders approved the management's buy-back proposal.

Grasim, Telco, Hindalco and L & T also settled in the positive zone.

Tech stocks

Non-Sensex Tech stocks displayed mixed trends.

Sierra Optima (down 8.94% to Rs 55.50) crossed 8% lower limit of the circuit breaker on selling pressure.

Selling was also seen in other tech stocks like Silverline Technologies, Trigyn Technologies, Mascot Systems, Fujitsu ICIM, DSQ Software, Sonata Software, Mastek, Digital Equipment, Soffia Software, Rolta India, Aptech, Hughes Software, Wipro, Kale Consultants and Polaris Software.

Mascon Global, Subex Systems, Ramco Systems, HCL Technologies, Geometric Software, Pentasoft Technologies, SSI, R. S. Software, Tata Infotech and VisualSoft Technologies settled in the positive territory.

Telecom stocks

Among telecom stocks, Global Tele-Systems (GTL) (up 3.41% to Rs 151.55) gained further ground on sustained buying, but came off from its intra-day high of Rs 158.25. Over 46 lakh GTL shares were traded on BSE. T. Rowe Price, an FII, was said to have been active on the GTL counter since the last couple of sessions.

HFCL (down 2.12% to Rs 83.25) settled in the red, slipping sharply on profit- booking from its intra-day high of Rs 89.80. Over 49 lakh HFCL shares were traded on BSE.

Optical fibre makers Sterlite Optical (down 0.95% to Rs 332.50) and Aksh Optifibre (down 0.36% to Rs 125.10) settled in the red on selling pressure.

Selling was also seen in other telecom-related stocks like Shyam Telecom, Goldstone Technologies, Krone Communications and Vindhya Telelink.

Mobile Telecom, Finolex Cables, Birla Ericsson, Tata Telecom, Usha Beltron and Usha Beltron settled in the positive zone.

Media stocks

Among media stocks, Adlabs Films (Rs 61.95) hit 8% upper limit of the circuit breaker on sustained buying.

Pentamedia Graphics (up 6.61% to Rs 77.45) bounced back from an intra-day low of Rs 67.40 on renewed institutional buying support. Over 39.58 lakh Pentamedia shares were traded on BSE.

On the other hand, Crest Communications (down 2.97% to Rs 57.25) was subdued ahead of the announcement of its FY 2001 results. After market hours, the animation maker posted a 117.30% rise in net profit to Rs 5.10 crore (Rs 2.34 crore) on sales of Rs 24.30 crore (Rs 16.13 crore).

Cinevista Communications (down 6.77% to Rs 42) also declined. For the year ended 31 March 2001, the television content provider posted a net loss of Rs 11.99 crore (NP Rs 8.78 crore) on sales of Rs 39.67 crore (Rs 43.92 crore).

Jain Studios, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Creative Eye, Saregama India, TV 18, Pritish Nandy Communications, Mukta Arts, Balaji Telefilms, Mid-Day Multimedia and Padmalaya Telefilms also ended in the negative territory.

Pharmaceutical stocks

Among non-Sensex pharmaceutical stocks, Fulford (Rs 131.75) hit 8% upper limit of the circuit breaker on renewed buying.

Selective buying was seen in other pharmaceutical stocks like Lupin Laboratories, Suven Pharma, Alembic, Abbott Laboratories, Novartis, Duphar Pharma, J. B. Chemicals, Pfizer, German Remedies and Parke-Davis on expectations of major relaxation in the Drug Price Control Order soon.

On the other hand, Torrent Pharma, Astra-IDL, Sun Pharma, Burroughs Wellcome, Wyeth Lederle, Panacea Biotech, Morepen Laboratories, Rhone Poulenc, E.Merck, Wockhardt, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Nicholas Piramal, SmithKline Beecham Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Glenmark Pharma settled in the red.

Banking and finance stocks

Bank of Baroda (down 3.36% to Rs 53.15) sank deeper into the red after it announced its Q4 / FY 2001 results during market hours.

For the year ended 31 March 2001, the public sector bank posted a net profit of Rs 274.66 crore (Rs 502.77 crore) on an income of Rs 6,463.62 crore (Rs 5,860.80 crore). For the Q4 ended 31 March 2001, it posted a net loss of Rs 154.55 crore (net profit Rs 130.77 crore) on an income of Rs 1,735.84 crore (Rs 1,622.32 crore).

Selling was seen in other banking and finance stocks like IDBI Bank, Nedungadi Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC, LIC Housing Finance, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, J & K Bank, ICICI Bank, Global Trust Bank and UTI Bank.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, United Western Bank, IFCI, HDFC Bank and Bank of Punjab settled in the positive zone.

Side counters

Among side counters, Apollo Tyres (down 1.79% to Rs 57.55) remained subdued after posting poor FY 2001 results during market hours. For the year ended 31 March 2001, the tyre major posted a 66.58% drop in net profit to Rs 25.42 crore (Rs 76.06 crore) on sales of Rs 1,142.11 crore (Rs 1,066.88 crore).

Elbee Services (Rs 100.30) hit 8% lower limit of the circuit breaker.

Bayer India (down 2.50% to Rs 599) slipped after the company informed on Wednesday that Syntans India, a part of the Chennai-based leather chemicals Syntans group, has acquired more than 5% stake in the company.

Titan Industries (down 2.15% to Rs 43.25) was weak after the company posted its FY 2001 results on Wednesday. For the year ended 31 March 2001, the watches and jewellery major posted a 21.78% rise in net profit to Rs 23.48 crore (Rs 19.28 crore) on sales of Rs 638.77 crore (Rs 567.81 crore).

Selling was seen on other side counters like Tata Honeywell, Syngenta India, Blue Dart Express, Apollo Hospital, Shipping Corporation of India, Tata Power, Max India, Indo-Gulf Corp, Adani Exports, Trent, Esab India, Atlas Copco, Mirc Electronics, Ingersoll Rand, ICI India, Amara Raja Batteries, United Phosphorus and Bombay Dyeing.

Banco Products (Rs 30.45), Khandwala Securities (Rs 44.85) and Amtek Auto (Rs 47.65) hit 8% upper limit of the circuit breaker.

Buying was also seen in Voltas, Aban Lloyd Chiles, Himatsingka Seide, Foseco India, Bharat Forge, ABB, Thermax, Birla 3M, Gati Corporation, Tata Infomedia, Philips India, Raymond, Hero Honda Motors, Crisil, G. E. Shipping, Saw Pipes, Hinduja TMT and EIH.

Source: www.capitalmarket.com

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