Date:31/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/03/31/stories/2006033102221500.htm

Back Sensex crosses 11,300-mark

Nath Balakrishnan

Trading highlights
Healthy market breadth
Small-caps sizzle
Rajesh Exports sparkles
Engineering stocks take a hit

The unstoppable juggernaut called the Sensex continued on its relentless journey, as it gained another 123 points to breach the 11300-point mark on Thursday.

It was the fifth straight day of the Sensex logging gains. The Nifty put on 64.75 points, easing past the 3400-point barrier to finish at 3418.95 points. In sectoral action, stocks belonging to the metals, FMCG and the healthcare space sported smart gains.

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Broad market patterns

The broad-based upward march was evident from a range of market indicators. Advancing stocks outpaced those that shed value by a factor of more than two. Barring indices tracking engineering and banking sectors, the rest notched up positive returns. Small-cap stocks had a smart outing as they ended the day with gains that comfortably outpaced the rise in large- and mid-cap stocks.

Buzzing sectors

Close on the heels of its acquisition of Terapia, based in Romania, Ranbaxy announced another acquisition - that of the Belgium-based Ethimed. The stock buzzed around before closing the day at Rs 415.95, with a gain of close to Rs 41. Other stocks from the pharma sector that saw gains included Aurobindo Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Lupin, Sun Pharma and Aventis Pharma.

ITC and Hindustan Lever led the action from the FMCG space, ending the day with smart gains. The sharpest gainer within the FMCG index was Bata, after it posted a fourth-quarter profit compared to a loss in the year-ago period.

Metal stocks also had a good day at the office as prospects of higher prices lured investors to stocks, especially in the non-ferrous space.

Buzzing stocks

Hindustan Zinc, Gabriel India and Rajesh Exports were the stocks that rocked in Thursday's trading with price increase of 20 per cent. For Rajesh Exports, it is turning out to be a sizzling run, as it has gained about 50 per cent over the last seven trading sessions. A relatively less-known small-cap stock - Steel Strip Wheels - also figured high in the gainers list, rising 20 per cent.

Event-specific action

A host of company-specific announcements met with mixed response from investors.

PVR was marked up on news flow that its multiplexes in Lucknow and Indore with nine screens have secured government clearances and will start commercial operations next week increasing its screen capacity by 15 per cent.

Undeterred by a sharp hike in haulage rates by the railways, the stock of Container Corporation of India rose by more than 2 per cent.

Markets were lukewarm to the comprehensive restructuring plan announced by Zee Telefilms. This initial reaction may be due to poor earnings visibility in the three new companies that are to be listed.

Radaan Media Networks rose by 12 per cent on robust volumes ahead of the IPO of Sun TV; Radaan is one of the major content providers in prime time to the Sun Network.

Gainers and Losers

Bharat Gears, SRF, Bombay Dyeing, Indraprastha Gas, Titanor Components, Sadbhav Engineering, TVS Motor, Punjab Alkalies, Bata India and Ramco Systems were among the prominent gainers. Champdany, ITD Cementation, Geometric Software, Chennai Petroleum, Ashok Leyland, Titan, Jai Corp, Today's Writing Products, Mahindra Gesco and Vivimed Labs were notable in the losers list even as equities had a fine outing.