gopalakrishna

The market opened on a listless note this morning and remained that way till around noon before it rallied sharply into the positive zone thanks to some strong buying in select blue chip stocks. And then, despite a setback in early afternoon trade, it managed to sign off on a positive note today on sustained buying in heavyweights Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, Reliance Communications, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services.

Global cues were mixed. But participants appeared reluctant to build up positions ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review. Still, some good set of results from India Inc kept the mood fairly positive right through the session today.

The Sensex, which tumbled to a low of 14,219.38 in morning trade but rallied to a high of 14,421.61 subsequently, ended the day at 14,349.11 with a modest gain of 74.17 points or 0.52%. The Nifty ended 0.47% or 20.25 points at 4332.10. In intra-day trades today, the Nifty touched a high of 4352.65 and a low of 4282.25.

Sensex could head for 15500-15700

Oil, capital goods, realty and PSU stocks were among the prominent gainers today. Select consumer durables, pharma and FMCG stocks too surged higher. Bank stocks found support hard to come by. Auto, IT and power stocks remained highly subdued. Metal stocks declined sharply on selling pressure.

A good show by the company in the April-June 2008 quarter saw Larsen & Toubro hit a high of Rs 2799 this afternoon. Though the stock settled far lower than that level at Rs 2723.55, it still finished the day with a sharp gain of 3.75%. Tata Power, a new entrant to the Sensex fold, closed with a gain of 3.6%. ACC moved up by 3.35%. ONGC gained 3% to Rs 1012.50.

Ranbaxy Laboratories surged 2.6%. Reliance Communications (1.85%), DLF (1.8%), Reliance Industries (1.5%), Tata Consultancy Services (1.05%) ended on a high note. ICICI Bank rebounded smartly after initial weakness and gained a per cent. ITC edged up by 0.95%. Wipro and Reliance Infrastructure gained around a quarter per cent.

Sterlite Industries (down 3.45% to Rs 582.25) had a weak maiden outing as a Sensex component. Tata Steel, Hindalco and State Bank of India lost 2% - 2.25%. Mahindra & Mahindra lost nearly 2% as it settled at Rs 529.55.

NTPC (down 1.4%), Grasim Industries (down 1.4%), Jaiprakash Associates (down 1.05%), Infosys Technologies (down 0.7%), Maruti Suzuki (down 0.6%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 0.55%) declined sharply. Satyam Computer Services, BHEL, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and HDFC also ended weak.

ABB, Nalco, Tata Communications, SAIL, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Siemens, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Power Grid Corporation were among the prominent losers in the Nifty index.

Cairn India, Zee Entertainment, Reliance Petroleum, BPCL, Unitech, Idea Cellular and Suzlon Energy finished with impressive gains. GAIL India, Hero Honda and Punjab National Bank also ended with notable gains.

Even as a host of large cap stocks struggled for support, several midcap and smallcap stocks moved up sharply on sustained buying interest today. Mirroring investor interest for these stocks, the Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1.04% and 1.98% respectively.

The market breadth remained strong. Out of 2692 stocks traded on BSE, 1767 stocks closed on a winning note. 848 stocks posted losses and 77 stocks ended flat.

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