The Hindu Business Line : Technology, oil stocks lead rally

FIRM trend in stock prices continued as markets put on gains for the fifth straight day. The upward momentum to stock prices during the week reverses the setback suffered in the previous week. In the week ended April 29, Sensex shed 192 points. In the week just ended, it has gained 235 points or 3.8 per cent.

On Friday, technology and oil stocks led the rally. However, banks, capital goods and healthcare stocks were not able to capitalise on the sentiment and logged declines. Trends were more positive for larger frontline stocks. Nearly 60 per cent of BSE 200 stocks recorded gains. Though a number of mid-cap and small-cap stocks gained, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices posted lower gains compared to Sensex.

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Oil & gas flare: Oil and gas stocks flared up on the bourses. The cooling off of crude oil prices and favourable voices in the political and economic arena suggesting that oil price hike was inevitable should have improved sentiment. Eight of the 10 stocks in BSE Oil & Gas Index advanced. BPCL, GAIL and HPCL were the major gainers. GAIL had also announced details of sale of gas to NTPC earlier in the day.

IT stocks shine: Nine out of 12 stocks in BSE IT Index gained on Friday. Since the results season took off, IT stocks had turned volatile. The sudden increase in volatility was in stark contrast to the trends in the past two years when these stocks were far less volatile than the market. Gainers include Flextronics, Patni Computers, TCS and MphasiS BFL.

News reports suggest that the stock of Flextronics may be on the road to being delisted. In the case of MphasiS BFL, Barings, the principal shareholder, has said that it has appointed an investment bank to evaluate offers to buy its stake in MphasiS.

Banks sink: The euphoria over bank stocks seen on Thursday evaporated on Friday. Thirteen out of 17 stocks in BSE Bankex Index shed value. Stocks such as Federal Bank, Karnataka Bank, South Indian Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank, which had shot up on Thursday, declined sharply. Stocks of Karur Vysya Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank bucked the trend though. Public sector banks remained mired in negative territory and the just announced RBI's rules on dividend payments did not help perk up sentiment.

Capital goods down: In terms of points, the BSE Capital Goods Index was the biggest loser of the day. The trend was, however, mixed with seven stocks in the index gaining and another seven losing in value. The large-cap stock in the index Larsen & Toubro lost 2 per cent pulling down the index in the process.

News and stocks: Nagarjuna Construction soared by 6 per cent. The company announced that it is a considering a stock-split.

ACC and Maruti Udyog rose in value perked up by the announcement of a strong growth in profits. Strides Arcolab went up 2 per cent. The company announced that it had acquired Medgene Pharmaceuticals.

Alka India gained 10 per cent. The company is exploring a GDR offer.

Cosmo Films gained 4 per cent. The CMD of the company had acquired shares in the market recently.

Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren was less fortunate. It lost 5 per cent even as the promoters acquired an additional stake of 1.5 per cent on May 3.

Multi-Arc was also one of the losers. The stock shed 4 per cent even as the company proposed a rights offer.

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