The Hindu Business Line : Buying in HLL, Reliance lifts Sensex

THE 30-stock BSE Sensex, despite witnessing volatile trading in the early part of Wednesday's trade ended on a positive note. The northward movement of the Index was aided by the buying interest witnessed in the counters of Index heavyweights — Hindustan Lever, Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies. The Benchmark Index closed higher by 36.66 points (0.94 per cent).

The Sensex opened firmly at 3,910.86 points, 21.45 points higher than Tuesday's closing and ended the day at 3,926.07 points. It touched an intra-day high of 3,935.8 points and a low of 3874.34 points, witnessing an intra-day swing of about 61 points.

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Among Sensex stocks, 21 gained while 9 declined. In the BSE, of the 2,129 stocks traded, 1,262 appreciated, 787 lost ground, while 80 remain unchanged.

The slightly broad-based S&P CNX Nifty was also up 12.15 points (0.98 per cent) to 1,246.9 points.

The top five stocks (by weight) of the Sensex including State Bank of India and ITC ended the day on a positive note. Reliance Industries rose 1.4 per cent to Rs 361.55 on trade volumes of 16.8 lakh shares. Hindustan Lever was up 2 per cent to Rs 175.55. Infosys Technologies rose 1.4 per cent to Rs 3,453.65 on trade volumes of 2.8 lakh shares.

The stock price of state-owned oil refinery major Bharat Petroleum rose by 2.1 per cent to Rs 286.40. The company has put an expression of interest for 33 per cent stake in the Sri Lankan Government-owned Ceylon Petroleum or Ceypetco. HPCL was also up 4.2 per cent to Rs 362.80. The Government-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and National Aluminium also closed higher.

Steel companies continued to remain in limelight third trading day in a row. Several steel companies have increased the price of steel products (billets, ingots etc) a fortnight ago. Investors appear to be buying in these stocks on expectations that this firm price trend may continue. Expectation of increase in demand for steel products also appears to be aiding the rally in these stocks.

The stock price of the state-owned SAIL went up 5.6 per cent to Rs 35.95 on trade volumes of 1.4 crore shares. Jindal Vijaynagar also appreciated by a whopping 17.4 per cent to Rs 17.37 on accompanying volumes of 1.3 crore shares, up from 1.1 crore shares traded on Tuesday. Essar Steel was another gainer as it rose 7.3 per cent to Rs 24.35 on trade volumes of 49.2 lakh shares. Tata Steel also closed higher witnessing heavy volumes.

The stock price of secondary steel manufacturers such as Uttam Galva Steels, Steelcast and LIoyds Steel also closed in the positive territory.

The stock price of LIC Housing Finance rose third day in a row. The stock was up 1.5 per cent to Rs 143.75 after the company has approved 55 per cent dividend for the financial year 2002-03.

The counter of automaker Hindustan Motors witnessed heightened activity as it registered huge trading volumes of 71.6 lakhs shares even as its share price rose by 14.2 per cent to Rs 17.21. Other Auto manufacturers that gained include Maruti Udyog (3.8 per cent), Bajaj Tempo (1.5 per cent) and Tata Engineering (1.1 per cent)

Cement stocks witnessed buying interest. The stock price of Priya Cement (19.9 per cent), Mysore Cements (9.9 per cent) and Shree Cement (3.7 per cent) registered gains coupled with increase in trade volumes. Major cement manufacturers ACC (3.4 per cent), and Gujarat Ambuja Cement (2.8 per cent) also logged gains.

Counters that witnessed huge volumes on the day include IFCI, Alka India, JCT, MTNL and Zee Telefilms.

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