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Select infotech stocks log gains

B. Krishnakumar

IN stark contrast to the trading pattern on Monday, stocks posted a smart recovery towards the close of Tuesday's trading. After opening on a weak note, the BSE Sensex remained subdued for the better part of the day.

However, sentiment reversed in the last 30 minutes of trading with the Sensex posting a rise of around 50 points during this period; it ended the day at 5464.51 points, up by about 60 points over the previous day's close of 5404.07 points.

Hindustan Lever was a major casualty amongst the Sensex constituents. The share price of the company declined by Rs. 34.50 to settle at Rs. 2,565. Cement majors Larsen & Toubro and Grasim Industries were the other prominent losers.

The share price of Grasim Industries declined by Rs. 21 to close at Rs. 430, while the Larsen & Toubro stock slipped by Rs. 15.50 to Rs. 460. Infosys Technologies, NIIT and Ranbaxy Laboratories were the top gainers.

The share price of Pentafour Communications firmed up by Rs. 41.15 to close at Rs. 555.75. Trading volumes increased from 27,719 shares to 64,097 shares. The rise in value appears to have been triggered by the improved financial performance posted by the company for the quarter ended December 1999. For this period, the company's net profit shot up to Rs. 21.15 crores from Rs. 2.73 crores while the turnover improved to Rs. 97.77 crores from Rs. 15.74 crores.

However, the improvement in performance has to be viewed in the light of the company's recent acquisition of the software business of Pentafour Software.

Apart from Infosys Technologies and NIIT, a few other infotech stocks managed to close on a positive note at the end of Tuesday's trading. The likes of SSI, DSQ Software and Sierra Optima saw a sharp spurt in their share price.

The SSI stock firmed up by Rs. 230.8 to close at Rs. 3,116.45 while the trading volumes zipped to 3.89 lakh shares for the day compared to a scanty 7,721 shares recorded the previous day.

The share price of the rating agency _ Crisil _ firmed up by Rs. 52.05 to settle at Rs. 703.25. Trading volumes vaulted to 21,195 shares from 5,126 shares transacted on Monday. The sentiment towards the stock appears to have been bolstered by the company 's acquisition of Infac, a company engaged in the business of providing research-based information on various industries.

The decision to list its shares at the New York stock Exchange appears to have imparted positive sentiment towards the Mahindra & Mahindra stock. The share price of the company firmed up Rs. 29.50 to close at Rs. 590. Trading volumes improved to 3.84 lak h shares from 2 lakh shares.

Despite an improved financial performance, the share price of Global Telesystems declined by Rs. 30 to close at Rs. 1,032. Trading volumes spurted to 15.07 lakh shares from 8.12 lakh shares. For the three-month period ended December 1999, the company's t urnover improved by 18 per cent to Rs. 160.21 crores while the net profit jumped by 53 per cent to Rs. 27 crores.

Apart from Global Telesystems, a few stocks from infotech and pharmaceutical sectors ended the day on a weak note.

Infotech Enterprises, Sonata Software and Fujitsu ICIM were amongst the major losers from the infotech sector, while Nicholas Piramal, Sun Pharma and Parke Davis were prominent amongst the losers from the pharmaceutical industry.

After posting a sharp rise on Monday, the trend in the Sun Pharma stock reversed on Tuesday. The scrip closed at Rs. 1,662.90, down by Rs. 40.60 from the previous day's close of Rs. 1,703.50. Trading volumes dried up to 6,448 shares for the day compared to 20,057 shares for the previous day.

The Sonata Software stock declined by Rs. 79.95 to close at Rs. 1,420.05. From 3,000 shares recorded on Monday, the transaction volumes jumped to 9,700 shares for the day. At the NSE, the scrip closed at Rs. 1,435.