The Hindu Business Line : FMCG stocks shine; RIL, tech stocks weaken

STOCK market sentiments remained weak for the second day in succession. S&P CNX Nifty and BSE Sensex closed on a weak note. The Nifty closed lower by 1.1 per cent or 21.7 points at 1935.4. The Sensex ended the day at 6278.5, down 61.48 points from Tuesday's close.

The weakness in the technology sector stocks pulled down the indices. Top IT stocks such as Infosys, Satyam and Wipro ended the day in the negative territory. The share price of Infosys declined by Rs 39.1 to Rs 1919.85. Old economy heavyweights, including Reliance and Tata Steel, also ruled weak. Despite the improved performance for the quarter ended March 2005, the share price of Reliance closed on a weak note. The stock was volatile during the day and closed lower by Rs 8.1 at Rs 539.1. Tata Steel closed lower by Rs 8.85 at Rs 349.85.

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Stocks such as Hindustan Lever, ITC, Cipla and HDFC were prominent gainers. The share price of Hindustan Lever moved up by Rs 4.8 at Rs 142.75. Quite a few FMCG stocks bucked the market trend. Among them, the prominent gainers were Henkel SPIC and Procter & Gamble. The share price of Henkel SPIC increased by 11 per cent to Rs 23.6. The Procter & Gamble stock closed higher by Rs 12.85 at Rs 612.65.

Select pharma stocks too managed to settle at higher levels. Prominent gainers include Cipla, Aurobindo Pharma and Lupin, while Ranbaxy, Matrix Labs, Pfizer, Aventis and Glaxo ended the day in the negative territory.

The shares of Gokaldas Exports got listed on Wednesday. The company came out with an IPO earlier this month at a price of Rs 425 per share. The stock ended the day at Rs 630.45 after having touched an intra-day high of Rs 665.

A sharp spike in trading volume was evident in counters such as Visaka Industries, Ucal Fuel, BPL and Alstom Power. The spurt in volume was accompanied by a surge in share prices as well.

For Visaka Industries, trading volumes jumped to 8.2 lakh shares from 1.62 lakh shares, while the share price rose 15 per cent to Rs 161.85.

Due to an improved quarterly performance, Praj Industries and Cipla managed to close on a positive note. The share price of Praj Industries closed at Rs 499.35, a rise of Rs 27.1 over previous day's close.

BEML, ICICI Bank, Glenmark Pharma and Mirza Tanners were prominent among the losers.

The share price of BEML dropped by Rs 14.5 to Rs 607.45. Trading volumes fell to 1.38 lakh shares from 1.71 lakh shares.

The ICICI Bank stock declined by Rs 19.25 to Rs 384.35. In comparison to 91,990 shares recorded the previous day, the trading volumes increased to 1.35 lakh shares on Wednesday.

Along with ICICI Bank, quite a few banking sector stocks, including Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank and Vijaya Bank, took a knock on Wednesday.

The share price of Allahabad Bank dropped 5.2 per cent to Rs 82.35 and that of Andhra Bank fell by 2.3 per cent to Rs 101.3.

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