The Hindu Business Line : Choppy Sensex ends weak

After a day of volatile trade the BSE Sensex finally closed in the red, losing close to 17 points during the day. The Sensex opened firmbut gave in to selling pressure and slipped into red.

However, bottom fishing and selective buying in both small-cap and metal stocks helped the markets recover from lower levels.

Positive cues from the US markets failed to influence Indian markets, which remained choppy throughout the day. According to provisional data on the BSE, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 136.77 crore on Friday. Nevertheless, the overall market sentiment remained bullish, which was reflected in the advance-decline ratio of 1.7:1.

New listing

Usher Agro made its debut on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 19.35, with a premium of 29 per cent over its issue price of Rs 15. The stock ended 8 per cent up around Rs 16 on Friday.

Buzzing stocks

VSNL spurted in early trades to touch a high of Rs 452 before it ended the day with a gain of 9.26 per cent. The stock surged on reports that the telecom commission has decided to demerge VSNL's 773 acres of land. The book value of the land amounts to Rs 1.64 million. The other counters that gained were Bombay Rayon, Mahavir Spinning, Force Motors, Kewal Kiran Crew Bos and Valecha Engineering.

Amara Raja Batteries, Bhushan Steel, JK Industries, Tech Mahindra, GMR Infrastructures and Divi's Laboratories were some counters that touched a new high on Friday.

Sector focus

Tyre stocks soared as rubber prices continued to fall. Apollo Tyres gained 1.87 per cent; Ceat gained 5 per cent; Good Year Tyre posted a gain of close to 4 per cent; MRF touched its all-time high and closed with again of 5 per cent.

Metals saw some action during the day. The BSE metal index closed with a gain of 1.13 per cent for the day. Stocks that gained in the sector were Lanco Industries, JSW Steel, Sesa Goa, Essar Steel, Kalyani Steel, Man Industries, Lloyd Steel, Hindalco and Ispat Industries. However, National Aluminium and Tata Steel closed with paltry losses for the day.

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Oil and gas index gained marginally on the back of cooling crude prices. Dolphin Offshore, BPCL, HPCL, IOC, BOC India and Castrol India were some gainers in the space.

Cements stocks were a mixed bag. The sector witnessed selective buying with Birla Corporation, Dalmia Cements, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and Saurashtra Cements moving northwards. Grasim, India Cements and JK Cements closed in the red.

Stock-specific action

Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals gained 3 per cent and Coromandel Fertiliser gained 4.76 per cent on news that both companies have joined a consortium for producing phosphoric acid in Tunisia.

McDowell gained 3.19 per cent on news that it has completed the amalgamation process of eight group companies with itself.

Television Eighteen group's Internet arm, Web18 Caymans has raised a funding of $ 10 million (approx Rs 46 crore) from Tracer Capital. The stock touch a high of Rs 624 but ended the day with a marginal gain of 0.88 per cent.

Ranbaxy' Canadian unit and Janssen-Ortho have entered into an agreement for generic Fentanyl patch. The stock however closed with a loss of 0.33 per cent.

Gainer and losers

Archies, Jayant Agro, Celebrity Fashions, Provogue India, Excel Industries and Zodiac Clothing were among the stocks that gained during the day. Sterling Biotech, HMT, Rama Newsprint, Educomp Solutions and Bajaj Electricals were among counters that moved southwards.