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Sowmya Krishnan

THE stock markets broadly remained sedate on Friday. Only a few stocks were spiked on company-specific news. The primary indices, the BSE Sensex and the NSE S&P CNX Nifty, remained range-bound.

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The 30-stock Sensex ended the day's trading at 3516.11 points, lower by 20.15 points from the previous day's close of 3536.26 points. Advanced to decline ratio indicated that the broad market trend was bearish. Advancing shares were at 525 against 690 shares that declined. Traded volumes, however, improved to 6.86 crore shares from 5.83 crore shares on Thursday. A number of scrips that touched new highs were lower at 25 compared to 30 scrips that touched new lows.

The broader 50-stock S&P CNX Nifty ended at 1138.45 points, 5.75 points down from Thursday's close of 1144.20 points. The Nifty touched an intra-day high of 1148.65 and a low of 1135.90, indicating lack of activity.

Among A-Group, stocks such as State Bank of India, Zee Telefilms and Larsen & Toubro lost value. Pharma majors — Dr. Reddy's and Ranbaxy — made modest gains.

Public sector stocks such as HPCL, BPCL and IPCL too eased a bit. However, one PSU stock that witnessed heightened activity was Engineer's India. The stock rose 10.34 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 245 before settling down at Rs 229.40, up 3.3 per cent from the previous day's close. Reports that the Government would sell 51 per cent stake in the company to a strategic partner could have triggered activity in the stock. Traded volumes were quite heavy at 2.2 lakh shares against over 90,000 shares traded the day before. Hindustan Zinc too perked up 5.9 per cent to close at Rs 36.05, a gain of 2.9 per cent over the previous close, on hopes that the Government would divest its stake by March end. Traded volumes rose in tandem to 16 thousand shares from just over 2,600 shares traded the previous day.

The two oil companies — Chennai Petroleum and Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals — surged on reports that they may be merged with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). IOC owns 52.48 per cent in Chennai Petroleum and 74.46 per cent in Bongaigaon Refineries. Chennai Petroleum touched the maximum permitted limit of 20 per cent at Rs 30.65 in intra-day deals while Bongaigaon Refinery rose 19.1 per cent to peak of Rs 8.1. However, by the end of the day, both the stocks retreated to close at Rs 27.95, up 9.4 per cent, and Rs 7.4, up 8.8 per cent respectively.

Aventis CorpScience shot up to a high of Rs 195 on reports that the company was close to a deal to raise its holdings in an insecticide joint venture with Bhilakias. However, the rally was curtailed due to concerns about the valuation of the stock. The stock closed at Rs 170, down 3.2 per cent from Thursday's close. Another Bhilakia company, Hindustan Inks rose 6.3 per cent on hopes that the consideration received by the Bhilakias for their stake in the joint venture would flow into its business. The stock finally closed at Rs 311.65, up 3.5 per cent.

Among the losers, Trent plunged 8.18 per cent to Rs 121.25 amidst huge volumes. Over 3.3 lakh shares exchanged hands during the day.

Thiru Arooran Sugars, another low-cap stock, melted down by 7.9 per cent to Rs 22.10. Traded volumes jumped from 100 shares to over 20 thousand shares during the day.

Other stocks that appeared in the losers' list were Kochi Refineries, Hughes Software, Federal Bank, Max India, Nilkamal Plastics and Creative Eye.

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