Technology, agrochem scrips fare better

A. Srikanth

THE markets moved in a narrow range during most of the week in the absence of any positive news.

Except on Monday, the markets remained on the positive territory. Overall, while the Sensex gained 60.45 points to close at 4,477.31, the BL-250 composite index went up by 21.95 to end at 1,350.38.

Though the information technology sector continued to gain during the week, stocks from the hardware sector performed better.

Contrary to earlier weeks, value sectors posted significant gains. Stocks from the growth sectors - FMCG and pharmaceuticals - either posted negative returns or remained range-bound.

An analysis of the markets over the last one month shows that except for the technology and the agri-business sectors, all the other sectors have lost value. While the PSU and the core sectoral indices lost significantly over the month, the commodity, capital goods and banks and FIs sectoral indices declined marginally.

The hotels and resorts index has been gaining consistently over the last few weeks. The gain has been because of the spurt in the share price of EIH. From Rs. 111.70 during the end of May, the stock has gone up steadily to currently rule at Rs. 245.25. The share price of Indian Hotels too gained significantly during the week. The hotels and resorts index gained 14.33 per cent during the week.

The Vikas WSP stock was another major gainer during the week. The stock has been gaining steadily over the last two weeks. Though rumours about window-dressing of financial statements initially pulled down the stock, it subsequently recovered after the company came out with proofs to justify its stand. From Rs. 367.20 in the middle of August, the stock has gained steadily to currently rule at Rs. 815.65.

While the hardware index was lead by Wipro, the software index was propped up by Infosys Technologies, Mastek and NIIT. After witnessing a weak trend for the past several weeks, the petroleum-exploration and refining index posted significant gains during the week. All the stocks in the index gained during the week, with BPCL and HPCL leading the pack.

The agrochemicals index got a big boost with handsome gains posted by Monsanto Chemicals. The stock gained Rs. 110.40 during the week to close at Rs. 1,028.75. While the tyres and tubes index was lead by Goodyear, the paper and pulp index rode high with a rally in Ballarpur Industries and ITC Badrachalam.

The packaging index went up by 2.90 per cent as both Hindustan Inks and Paper Products posted gains. The Essel Packaging stock lost Rs. 1.85 to close at Rs. 384.45.

Major losers for the week included stocks from the telecom-services, auto-ancillaries, power, pharmaceuticals-MNC, cement and automobile-CJT sectors.