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Nath Balakrishnan

BUYING in technology stocks and the continuing momentum in PSU stocks on disinvestment hopes ensured that the benchmark BSE Sensex finished in the positive territory for the second consecutive trading day on Tuesday. It closed at 2973.35, a gain of 20.57 points. Mirroring the rise in the Sensex, the Nifty also ended higher at 960.80, a rise of 6.05 points.

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The Sensex opened the day at 2954.29, touched a low of 2953.95 during the course of intra-day trade before it ended the day marginally below the day's high of 2978.91. Advances outnumbered declines by a ratio of 7 to 5, on a day that saw 8.96 crore shares changing hands.

Technology stocks were in the limelight in the anticipation of better results for the quarter-ended September. Buying was witnessed in both frontline as well as second-rung stocks. Tech bellwether Infosys, which is declaring its results on Thursday, bounced back after having been a loser on Monday. The stock appreciated by Rs 98.85 to settle at Rs 3,551.55. The other technology stocks in the Sensex, Satyam and HCL Technologies, also posted gains. Satyam moved up Rs 1.85 to end at Rs 208.15, while HCL Technologies rose Rs 6.80 to finish the day at Rs 204.20 on the back of trading volumes of about 9.6 lakh shares. Wipro was another gainer as it rose by Rs 30.95 to close at Rs 1,355.70.

Among second-line IT stocks, Digital, which was a loser on Monday, was back in the reckoning as the stock gained Rs 9.50 to end at Rs 563.35. Close to 10 lakh shares were traded on the counter. Hexaware gained Rs 4.05 to settle at Rs 96.55, and i-flex Solutions moved up Rs 12.35 to end at Rs 580.

The air of optimism surrounding the divestment programme provided a fillip to PSU stocks as well. HPCL and BPCL - both of which were sharp gainers in Monday's trade - rose for the second day in succession as they continued to find favour among buyers. HPCL gained Rs 3.80 to close at Rs 209.90, and BPCL rose Rs 1.05 to finish at Rs 207.90. National Aluminium also moved up Rs 6.15 to end at Rs 101.75, in reaction to a report that the Government had firmed up a shortlist of contenders to pick up a stake in the company.

Stocks of both HMT and Bharat Earth Movers, which had moved up appreciably on Monday on the back of substantial volumes, continued to consolidate their gains. HMT was up Rs 0.95 and closed at Rs 20.05, while Bharat Earth Movers posted a gain of Rs 3.05 as the stock settled at Rs 60.70.

Media major Zee Telefilms was back in the spotlight as it moved up by Rs 7.35 to end the day at Rs 89.55. The number of shares that changed hands on the counter was in excess of one crore. The rise of Zee had a positive rub-off on other media stocks as well. This was reflected in the prices of Balaji Telefilms, Creative Eye and TV 18, all of which ended the day in positive territory.

Among other Sensex stocks, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industries - which are in the process of merger - perked up and ended the day in positive territory.

However, ICICI Bank, which had seen its share price rise after it offloaded a portion of its equity to a clutch of foreign investors, lost ground as the stock shed Rs 4.05 to finish at Rs 138.50.

On the FMCG front, it was a mixed bag as the day saw HLL and Nestle posting gains even as ITC and Colgate slipped to end lower.

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