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Nasdaq shepherds tech scrips to a rebound

Reshma Krishnan

THE Bombay bourse continued to stay in investor favour, remaining positive on Thursday's trading. The 30-share market barometer, the Sensex, closed at a two-week high of 4,115.57, up 1.36 per cent and 55.35 points from the previous day's close of 4,060.0 2. The index opened at 4,180.97 to trade within a range of 71.42 points between an intra-day high of 4,180.97 and a low of 4,109.55.

The rise came on the back of an overnight rise on the US technology market index Nasdaq, which rose by its highest-ever percentage and point gain of 14.17 per cent and 324.82 points to 2,616.69. This was fuelled by a surprise rate cut by the US federal r eserve, which, in turn has reinforced investor faith in technology stocks at the Asian bourses.

The broad market trend (new highs to new lows) continues to be negative. This goes to show that the underlying trend is still negative as there were only 14 new highs to 31 new lows. The negative undertone was reinforced by the fact that the advance/decl ine ratio was also negative, as only 608 issues advanced in value as against 647 that declined.

Buying was predominantly in the new economy sector while selling was across the board. The stocks that attracted interest were of the likes of Wipro, Zandu Pharma, Himachal Futuristic, Satyam Computer and SSI.

Infosys Technologies and NIIT were the major gainers among the Sensex constituents. ITC, Dr Reddy's and Larson & Toubro were the major losers from the Sensex constituents.

Old economy stocks such as ITC, Grasim and L&T were probably casualties of profit booking as investors shifted gear to technology stocks, as returns were much higher. Cement scrips also took a hit with ACC and Madras Cements losing steam.

The technology heavyweight, Infosys Technologies, was once again the leader in the gainers. It closed up Rs 473 to end Thursday's trading at Rs 6,097 from the previous day's close of Rs 5,624.60. Its traded volumes rose in tandem to 10.28 lakh from the p revious day's traded volumes of 9.52 lakh.

Wipro followed closely, witnessing buying interest in its stock. It closed up Rs 243 from to end the day at Rs 2,653 from the previous day's close of Rs 2,410.10. The rise was accompanied by a rise in traded volumes to 9.52 lakh from the previous day's t raded volumes of 7.97 lakh.

India's largest motorcycle company Hero Honda, saw its shares rise in value, going up by Rs 24.10 to end the trading session at Rs 919.60 from the previous day's close of Rs 895.50. This could have been on back of sales figures for December, which were u p 25.4 per cent against sales during the similar period last year. Traded volumes also saw a marginal increase to 28,176 from 25,563.

Among the losers, L&T saw a fall in value. It fell by Rs 10.65 to close the day at Rs 205.50 from the previous day's close of Rs 216.15. Traded volumes increased to 50.52 lakh from the previous day's 45.93 lakh.

ITC was another loser, falling out of investor favour. It closed the day at Rs 925.2, down Rs 19.80 from the previous day's close of Rs 945. Traded volumes fell to 9.38 lakh from the previous day's close of 20.18 lakh.

Grasim India also lost value during the course of the day. It fell Rs 12.85 to end Thursday at Rs 289.40 from the previous day's close of Rs 302.25. Traded volumes decreased to 11.33 lakh from the previous day's volumes of 12.81 lakh.