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PSU pivotals lose ground

The market remained lacklustre in mid-afternoon trades amid mixed trends. Stock prices moved in an extremely narrow range. While selective buying continued in pharmaceutical stocks, New and Old Economy stocks displayed mixed trends. Buying interest continued in select heavyweight pivotals.

The BSE Sensex, as a result, remained steady. At 14:45 IST, the Sensex was down 5.49 points to 3,406.15.

The NSE S & P CNX Nifty Index was down 2.90 points to 1,093.20.

ICICI (down 5.81% to Rs 5.81) remained subdued on speculative unwinding.

PSU pivotals like HPCL (down 6.01% to Rs 153.30), MTNL (down 3.65% to Rs 125.25) and Bhel (down 2.84% to Rs 164.35) lost further ground on selling pressure.

Counters like Tata Steel, ITC, Colgate, Hindustan Lever and Reliance Petroleum were trading in the red.

Meanwhile, Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 3.70% to Rs 507) continued to trade above the Rs 500-mark after the company denied being in a bid to buy out Specialty Laboratories Inc in the joint venture Specialty Ranbaxy.

M & M (up 3.32% to Rs 84.10) remained steady on bargain hunting.

Media major Zee Telefilms (up 2.80% to Rs 115.70) also held gains on institutional buying interest. Close to 30 lakh Zee shares were traded on BSE so far.

Heavyweights like Reliance Industries (up 1.98% to Rs 365.55), State Bank of India (up 2.03% to Rs 220.85) and Infosys Technologies (up 2.63% to Rs 3,631.05) were steady.

Buying continued in Nestle, Grasim, Hindalco and Telco.

Among non-Sensex tech stocks, Sierra Optima (Rs 56.10) hit the 8% lower limit of the circuit breaker. Selling continued on tech counters like Silverline Technologies, Mascot Systems, DSQ Software, Trigyn Technologies, Rolta India, Fujitsu ICIM, Mphasis BFL, Mastek, Aptech, Digital Equipment, CMC, Aftek Infosys, VisualSoft, Polaris Software, Wipro, Hughes Software and PSI Data Systems.

Selling continued in telecom stocks like Framatome Connectors, Shyam Telecom, Surana Telecom, Mobile Telecom, Krone Communications, Punjab Communications, Goldstone Technologies, Finolex Cables, Vindhya Telelink and VSNL.

Global Tele-Systems (up 1.33% to Rs 148.50) lost ground once again on profit booking. Close to 40 lakh Global Tele shares were traded on BSE.

HFCL (down 2.82% to Rs 82.65) remained subdued on selling pressure.

Among banking stocks, Bank of Baroda (down 3.55% to Rs 53.05) lost ground after the announcement of FY 2001 results. For the year ended 31 March 2001, the private sector bank posted a net profit of Rs 274.66 crore (Rs 502.77 crore) on an income of Rs 6,463.62 crore (Rs 5,860.80 crore).

For the Q4 ended 31 March 2001, the bank posted a net loss of Rs 154.55 crore (NP Rs 130.77 crore) on income of Rs 1,735.84 crore (Rs 1,622.32 crore).

Selling was seen in banking stocks like South Indian Bank, IDBI Bank, Federal Bank, Citi Union Bank, Bank of India, Corporation Bank, J & K Bank, ICICI Bank, UTI Bank, Global Trust Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Among the side counters, Banco Products (Rs 30.45), Khandwala Securities (Rs 44.85) and Amtek India (Rs 47.65) hit the 8% upper limit of the circuit breaker.

Source: www.capitalmarket.com

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