The Hindu Business Line : ICICI Bank, ITC drag Sensex to negative zone

THE market, which pulled a hat trick by recording gains over three trading sessions, fell back into the negative territory on Friday. Even though rising crude prices have let up in the last few days, the fears surrounding inflation have clearly not been put to rest, with investors continuing to remain cautious. The continuing truckers' strike also weighed down the markets.

The BSE Sensex declined by 18.44 or 0.36 per cent to close at about 5117, down from its previous close of 5135 points. The Nifty declined by 1.75 points or 0.11 per cent to close at 1609. The benchmark indices, however, registered a weekly gain. The Sensex ended the week one per cent higher.

The Sensex opened marginally higher at 5147, which was as good as the day's high. It subsequently plunged into the negative territory, probably on the back of profit booking, reaching a low of 5094 points. The last hours of the trading session witnessed considerable traction, with strong buying interest propping the benchmark index; this was however, not enough to take the Sensex to a level higher than its previous close.

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For every one stock that advanced, two declined, reflecting the negative mood in the markets.

The major gainers for the day were HPCL, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Zee Telefilms, Infosys and ONGC. Prominent losers were Hindalco, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, BHEL and ITC.

The decline in prices of ICICI Bank and ITC, which have a weightage in the Sensex of about 12 per cent, held down the index, even as buying in other stocks attempted to propel it further.

The oil and textile sectors were the preferred sectors of the day. With crude prices weakening, oil stocks, which have been on the receiving end of the markets, got a brief respite. The stocks of refining companies, IOC, HPCL, Mangalore Refineries, Bongaigaon Refineries appreciated. The stock of ONGC also gained. The stock of IOC built on its five per cent gain on Thursday and put on another 3 per cent to close at Rs 408.35.

Textile stocks also attracted considerable attention on Friday. With only four months left for the end of the quota regime, the textile sector does not escape investors' attention span for too long. The stocks that appreciated include Vardhman Spinning, Mahavir Spinning, Alok Industries, Welspun India, Bombay Dyeing, GTN Textiles and Arvind Mills, to name a few. The stock of Arvind Mills gained Rs 2 to close at Rs 79.40. The stock has been appreciating in the last couple of days, following the hike in the FII limit to 49 per cent.

Banking stocks were also in the limelight. The stocks of Vijaya Bank, Canara Bank, UTI Bank, BOB, Karur Vysya Bank, Oriental Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank figured in the gainers list. The stock of Centurion Bank also gained 1.5 per cent. The gains may be partly due to BankMuscat raising its stake in the bank to 33 per cent from 26 per cent. The stock of IDBI was another gainer; the stock put on Rs 2.5 to close at Rs 74.65. Crisil reaffirmed the rating of IDBI at stable.

At the stock level, mid-cap stocks continue to gain smartly. The CNX Midcap 200 ended the day one per cent higher. Stocks that gained sharply include Tata Elxsi, Berger Paints, Ingersoll Rand, Bayer ABS and Tata Telecom.

The stock of TCS, which made its debut in the stock markets two days ago at a 16 per cent premium, fell for the second consecutive trading session. The stock lost Rs 16 to close at Rs 962.35.

The stock of Gammon India gained about Rs 11, to close at Rs 459. The spurt in the stock price comes at the back of the company bagging a civil works contract valued at Rs 156 crore.

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