Sensex, Nifty end with small gains : Sify India

Sensex, Nifty end with small gains
Chhota-Sensex pitted against mini-Nifty

Year 2007 ends on optimistic note, Sensex gains 80 pts


The first session of calendar year 2008 saw quite a number of blue chip stocks from power, realty and FMCG sectors gaining in strength. A few stocks from auto, banking and capital goods sectors also found support during the fag end of the day.


However, due to lack of triggers, it turned out to be rather lackluster session for several front line stocks. Mid and smallcaps, however, found strong support once again and posted impressive gains.


While the Wall Street closed on a negative note yesterday, most of the markets in Asia remained closed on account of New Year's Day today. Not willing to take chances ahead of the reporting season, participants chose to tread a cautious path and, as a result, notwithstanding a few smart intra-day rallies, many index stocks struggled to make a headway today.


The Sensex, which opened with a positive gap of around 38 points at 20,325.27 and touched a high of 20,394.89 in intra-day trade, settled at 20,300.71 with a small gain of 13.72 points. The Nifty ended at 6144.35, way down from a high of 6165.35 it had hit in intra-day trades, with a marginal gain of 5.75 points. While the Sensex touched a low of 20,220.46 in morning trade, the Nifty had dropped down to 6109.85.


Power stock Reliance Energy was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks on Day 1 of Year 2008. The stock, which hit a new all-time high of Rs 2289 today, ended with a sparkling gain of 6.8% at Rs 2279. NTPC surged 2.7% on strong buying on the back of reports that the government may vest the management with more powers on finance front.


FMCG heavyweights ITC and Hindustan Unilever closed stronger by 3.5% and 2% at Rs 217.60 and Rs 218.10 respectively. Tata Motors rallied 2.85% to Rs 763.05. Housing finance stock HDFC moved up by 1.65%. Ambuja Cements (1.1%), ONGC (1.05%) and State Bank of India (0.6%) also ended with smart gains.

Mahindra & Mahindra gained around half a per cent. ACC, Hindalco, HDFC Bank and Maruti Suzuki edged up marginally. BHEL ended almost unchanged from its previous closing price.
IT stocks Tata Consultancy Services (down 2.7%), Wipro (down 2.7%), Satyam Computer Services (down 1.2%) and Infosys Technologies (down 1.05%) remained out of favour.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, the telecom majors, went down by 2.7% and 0.75% respectively. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries eased by 1.15%. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Larsen & Toubro, Cipla, DLF and Bajaj Auto closed lower by 0.25% - 0.75%. Tata Steel and ICICI Bank finished with marginal losses.

Tata Power firmed up by over 5%. Nalco gained nearly 5%. Unitech notched up an impressive gain of 3.7%. Siemens, Reliance Petroleum, Punjab National Bank, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma and Suzlon Energy posted sharp to moderate gains today.

HCL Technologies, Idea Cellular, SAIL, Zee Entertainment and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories closed with sharp losses. BPCL, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Sterlite Industries, GAIL India and ABB also ended on a weak note.

JB Chemicals and Indo Rama Synthetics moved up by 20%. Apollo Hospitals, EIH Limited, Indian Hotels, Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank, Asahi India, MTNL, Dena Bank, Apollo Tyres, ING Vysya Bank, HDIL, Vijaya Bank, Indian Bank, Andhra Bank, Brigade Enterprises, Parsvnath Developers and Syndicate Bank also closed with handsome gains.


Midcap stocks JM Financial Services, UCO Bank, Gujarat NRE Coke, Greaves Cotton, Nava Bharat Ventures, Advanta, Asian Star, Kalyani Steel, Asian Electronics, Shiv Vani Oil, Nucleus Software, Atlas Copco, Zee News and GTL Infrastructure flared up smartly.

Among smallcaps, Batliboi, VST Industries, Macmilan, Hindustan Sanitaryware, Genus Power, Venus Remedies, Garden Silk, Kirloskar Ferro, Mather Pumps, Navneet Publications, Fedders Lloyd, Monnet Ispat, Tata Sponge, Paramount Communications and Agro Tech Foods were among the big gainers today.

IFCI, Essar Oil, Reliance Capital and GTL Infrastructure moved up sharply on strong volumes today.

As buying remains fairly widespread, the market breadth was pretty strong today. Out of a total of 2934 stocks traded on BSE, as many as 2282 stocks closed on a winning note. 626 stocks finished with losses and 26 stocks ended at their previous closing levels.

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