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Satyam, Hughes trigger market interest

Suresh Krishnamurthy

THE financial performance of frontline technology stocks boosted the sentiment at the bourses on Tuesday. With Satyam Computers and Hughes Software pleasing the markets with out releasing any alarming numbers, active buying in the markets appeared to hav e continued.

However, trading interest was not restricted to technology stocks alone. Large market capitalisation stocks in most sectors saw intense trading activity and price spurts. In fact, in the case of the technology sector, barring Infosys, stocks had to settl e for modest gains in value. Some such as Wipro actually logged declines.

In the case of Infosys, robust trading activity helped the stock gain close to 7.5 per cent during the day. In terms of value traded at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Infosys was the top traded stock.

Stocks such as Satyam Computer and Hughes Software, however, had to settle for lower percentage gains of 3.4 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. The financial performance of these two stocks, which beat market expectations, appeared to provide the tr igger for the buying interest.

At the BSE, the Sensex gained 1.44 per cent while Nifty at the NSE gained only 1.08 per cent. The broad-based S&P Crisil 500, which is more tech-weighted, gained 1.20 per cent. The CNX Nifty Junior, a barometer of mid-cap stocks, lost value during the da y.

While one of the major constituents of this index, ICICI Bank , gained smartly two other major constituents, Bank of Baroda and Corporation Bank , did not lose value. However, the sharp fall in another major stock, Sun Pharma and the modest declines in other stocks pulled down the index to negative territory.

In terms of value, trading volume at BSE increased marginally to Rs 769.57 crore from Rs 730.72 crore. Advancing shares were at 540 lower than declining shares at 640. However, advancing shares accounted for Rs 562.40 crore while declining shares account ed for only Rs 199.97 crore.

Major gainers during the day at BSE included several large capitalisation companies such as Ranbaxy, ICICI Bank , ACC , Reliance , Telco ,HLL , M&M ,HPCL , Dr Reddy's and HDFC . Stocks such as Colgate Palmolive and VSNL also attracted buying interest . While the 500 per cent dividend in the case of VSNL kept interest alive, Colgate is also considering a special dividend.

The stock of Ranbaxy gained more than 8 per cent during the day. The company reported a 22 per cent rise in profits on Monday. In the case of Dr Reddy's the possible stock split also appears to have helped apart from the improvement in market sentiment. In the case of Telco , the 16 per cent increase in commercial vehicles sales, which was reported after market hours on Tuesday also appears to have boosted trading interest.

Wednesday also saw a break in the extended run up in the stock prices of media stocks. Stocks such as Balaji Telefilms , Adlabs Films and Pritish Nandy Communications appeared to take breather as prices weakened.

These stocks have witnessed impressive price gains in recent days backed up by robust increases in trading volumes. Other prominent losers included technology stocks such as Global Tele-Systems , Himachal Futuristics , Sterlite Optical and Aksh Optifibr e .

Other prominent losers included stocks such as Punjab Tractors , Procter & Gamble ,Tata Power and TVS Suzuki . Trading on Wednesday also saw the rally in the stock price of Bayer India continue. The stock recorded its 52-week high during the day along with Ashapura Minechem . In contrast, stocks such as Henkel SPIC ,ICICI Bank and Jaiprakash Industries touched their 52-week lows. The stock of ICICI Bank however bounced back before the end of the day quite strongly.