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B. Krishnakumar

NOT too often in the recent past has the stock market indices closed on a weak note on all five trading days of the week. Aided by the bearish trend on Friday, the benchmark indices created a record of sorts by posting net decline for fifth day in succession. The BSE Sensex closed at 3153.06, down 37.29 points from the previous day's close of 3190.35. The S&P CNX Nifty dropped 14.15 points to 1017.1.

Yet again, it was Reliance Industries that played a key role in pulling down the indices. Recording the fourth successive day of decline, the share price of Reliance Industries dropped by Rs 3.95 to close at Rs 281. Other index heavyweights such as Infosys, Hindustan Lever, Tata Steel and Satyam did not fare any better. The share price of Infosys declined by Rs 75.8 to close at Rs 4022.3.

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The decline in the indices would have been even worse but for the firm trend in tobacco major ITC. The share price of the company went up Rs 6.35 to Rs 642.40. Along with ITC, Tata Tea and Nestle India were other key gainers from the 30 stocks that constitute the Sensex. The share price of Tata Tea went up Rs 5.40 to close at Rs 178.95 while trading volumes jumped to 78847 shares from 46013 shares recorded the previous day.

Two-wheeler stocks were pegged to lower levels during the day's trading. Hero Honda was a significant loser with the stock registering a drop of about 5 per cent during the day's trading. Trading volumes almost doubled to 1.73 lakh shares from 84136 shares posted the day before.

The likes of Sundram Fasteners, Nestle India and Castrol India were prominent amongst the gainers of the day's trading. The share price of Sundram Fasteners jumped 4 per cent to Rs 343.35 while trading volumes jumped to 6770 shares from just two shares recorded the previous day.

Unusually huge trading volumes were witnessed in counters such as Apollo Tyres, Madras Cements, Porrits & Spencer and GlaxoSmithkline Consumer. Bucking the overall weak trend, the share price of these companies settled at higher levels at the end of Friday's trading.

In the case of Madras Cements, the share price of the company went up by Rs 32.50 to Rs 3700 while trading volumes spurted to 522 shares from 29 shares. From about 6992 shares recorded on Thursday, trading volumes in the GlaxoSmithkline counter rose to 28695 shares on Friday. The share price of the company went up by about 3.4 per cent to close at Rs 238.45.

Apart from Infosys and Satyam, quite a few stocks from the technology sector were badly bruised during Friday's trading. The list of losers included prominent software companies such as Digital Global, Ramco Systems, VisualSoft, HCL Technologies and i-flex Solutions.

The share price of VisualSoft dropped Rs 12.30 or 7.2 per cent to settle at Rs 158.45 at the end of Friday's trading. From about 12.39 lakh shares recorded on Thursday, the trading volumes in the counter inched up to 12.43 lakh shares.

Apart from technology stocks, the companies from steel sector too took a knock on Friday. Tata Steel was prominent amongst the losers with the share price posting a three-per cent drop on Friday. The stock closed at Rs 137.90 while trading volumes rose to 17.39 lakh shares from 15.03 lakh shares.

Refinery majors BPCL and HPCL were also amongst the key losers of the day's trading. HPCL's share price dropped Rs 7.55 to Rs 292.65 while BPCL declined Rs 3.35 to Rs 215.3.

Disinvestment candidate Punjab Communications fell 20 per cent to Rs 62 after reports indicated that the Government had rejected the sole bid for a strategic stake in the company. Trading volumes in the counter jumped to 6.2 lakh shares from 4.7 lakh shares recorded the day before.

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