The Hindu Business Line : Capital goods, auto, IT stocks gain; FMCG ends weak

Apart from the bellwether index, all other indices in the BSE closed with a gain. The markets ended firm on Wednesday after a strong session with Sensex finally closing at 13,706.53 points and broader markets, Nifty gained 36 points or 0.9 per cent to end the day at 3,954.75 points.

However, the breadth was neutral. Against the advances of 1,311 stocks, declines stood at 1,229. Capital goods sector was the maximum gainer followed by auto, pharma and IT.

On a day where most of the sectors added values, the one that bucked the trend was FMCG.

Buzzing Stocks

Engineers India, which designs oil refineries and chemical plants, and Punj Lloyd have bid to upgrade and expand a Libyan refinery. The project is worth $1.6 billion. Both the stocks gained on back of this news; Engineers India added 4.3 per cent while Punj Lloyd gained 2.2 per cent.

Other prominent gainers on the BSE were Hinduja TMT, followed by Finolex Cables, Hindustan Zinc, Bombay Dyeing, India Cement and Jindal Saw. In mid-cap space the notable gainers were Tantia Construction, Swaraj Mazda, Saurashtra Cement and Saregama Industries

Sector Focus

The BSE Capital Goods Index was the biggest gainer among the sectoral indices. Areva T&D surged 5 per cent to hit the upper circuit filter. Jyoti Structures, SKF India, ABB and Crompton Greaves followed it to close in green. Prominent losers in this sector were Gammon India and Alfa Laval.

Auto sector were up for the second straight day with another set of stocks. Hindustan Motors lead the auto pack with a gain of 8.7 per cent. Other gainers from the sector were Exide Industries, Amtek Auto, Hero Honda and Sundram Fasteners. TVS Motor shed some of the gains made on Tuesday's trading along with MRF and Escorts.

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IT Sector too aided the markets to close on a positive note. Prominent among the space was Satyam Computer, which added Rs 24.5 to Rs 477.7.

Those who sailed along with it were Financial Technologies, Wipro, Hexaware and Patni Computer. Infosys Technologies that inched closer to the famed Nasdaq 100 Index cooled a bit along with TCS and i-flex Solutions.

FMCG index was the lone loser and it was let down by the prominent ones were Hindustan Lever, United Spirits and Dabur. However, Tata Tea, Bata India and Britannia by adding values, restricted the damage to the sector.

Stock- Specific Action

Siemens India surged 9.7 per cent on back of the announcement that a consortium of the company and Siemens AG, Germany has been awarded a mega contract worth of Rs 4,000 crore by the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation for the development of phase VII of the electrical grid in Qatar. This is the largest contract for the company.

ICI India gained 7 per cent followed by the announcement that the board of directors of the company on November 22 has approved the sale of its entire stake in its wholly owned subsidiary, Quest International India to Giyaudan Group for a total consideration of not less than Rs 390 crore.

Gainers and Losers

Jet Airways, Reliance Energy, Reliance Communication, National Aluminium and MTNL were the prominent gainers in the Nifty. And the losers were Hind Petro, BPCL, Oriental Bank of Commerce and HDFC Bank.