Mkts end with modest gains; telecom leads

Mumbai, Mar 19: Markets closed the week with modest gains.

Nifty ended above the 5250 mark supported by oil & gas exploration, power, cement, auto and telecom stocks along with SBI, HUL, HDFC Bank, SAIL, PNB, Tata Steel, Cipla, L&T and Jaiprakash Associates

However, the gains were capped to a major extend due to selling in HDFC, TCS, ICICI Bank, Infosys, DLF, BHEL, Jindal Steel, M&M, Axis Bank, Hindalco, ABB, Sterlite Industries, BPCL, Ranbaxy and HCL Tech.

BSE Sensex closed at 17,578.23, up 58.97 points and the Nifty gained 16.90 points to 5260.05, after trading in a day's range of 17,502.14-17,600.87 and 5237-5269.95, respectively.

Bidding for 3G spectrum hepled telecom to become the leader space for the week. Idea Cellular has bid for nationwide 3G spectrum. However, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications applied Mar 18.

Bharti Airtel rallied 4pc and became the top gainer for the day following its tie-up with Apple to sell 3G iPhone in India.

The other gainers of the trade were Idea Cellular and Rel Communication up over 2pc each.

MTNL shot up 3pc, as the company is set to get Rs 1400 crore tax refund.

In benchmark Nifty, heavyweight Reliance Industries was the leader up 1.4pc.

In the oil & gas stocks, Cairn India gained 0.74pc and BPCL shot up 0.25pc. However, BPCL plunged 0.78pc.

4:30 PM

Sensex trading at 17534; ICICI, SBI shine

Nifty was hovering around the 5250 level. Selling interest were seen in ONGC, Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, M&M, Sun Pharma, Jindal Steel, HCL Tech, DLF, Reliance Infrastructure and Unitech.

Telecom, cement, FMCG, select power and metal stocks along with SBI, HDFC Bank, Hero Honda, Jaiprakash Associates and Siemens were supporting the indices.

At 12:02 pm, Sensex was trading at 17534, up 15.5 points and the Nifty was at 5249, up 3 points.

The most active shares on the bourses are Amtek Auto, Sterlite Industries, ARSS Infra, Jubilant Foodworks, S Kumars Nationwide (to launch Reid & Taylor IPO in 6-8 months), Infosys, SBI and ICICI Bank.

Top gainers on the BSE Midcap - Kirloskar Oil, UB Holdings, Berger Paints, Emami and Chambal Fertiliser rose 3.4 to 6pc.

Top losers on the BSE Midcap - REI Six Ten, Amtek Auto, IVRCL Infrastructure, South Indian Bank and Patel Engg dipped 2 to 4pc.

Top gainers on the BSE Smallcap - S Kumars Nationwide, Graviss Hospital, Smartlink Network, Ganesh Housing and MSK Projects went up 7 to 12pc.

Top losers on the BSE Smallcap - Subhkam Capital, Prraneta Ind, Murli, JMD Telefilms and Richa Ind down 4 to 5pc.

2:09 PM

Nifty above 5100; RCom, Bharti up

Markets lacklustre in trade owing to lack of global cues. Asian Markets too were quite in trade. Buying interest were seen in Auto, infrastructure and cement stocks along with TCS, Wipro, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Sterlite and HUL.

However, selling were seen in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC, Infosys, ITC and ICICI Bank. The losers in this trade were Sun Pharma, SAIL, Axis Bank, DLF, M&M, Jindal Steel, HCL Tech, Hindalco, Ranbaxy, Unitech and BPCL.

At 10:18 am, Sensex was trading at 17551, up 32 points and the Nifty was at 5252, up 7 points.

Bidding for 3G spectrum set the telecom stocks buzzing. Bharti gained 1.9pc, Reliance Comm and Idea shot up 0.7 to 0.9pc.

The leading stock was SBI with 1.4pc gain.

The most active shares on the bourses were Sterlite Industries, ARSS Infra, BHEL, Texmo Pipes, Exide Industries, Infosys, SBI, HDFC and ICICI Bank.

Among the midcap space, gainers were Kirloskar Oil, Berger Paints, HSBC Invest, Cadila Health and Andrew Yule up 2.5 to 7pc.
However, REI Six Ten, Novartis India, MRF, Marico and IVRCL Infrastructure down 1.7 to 3pc were on the losing side.

Among the smallcaps, Smartlink Network, Force Motors, Indraprastha, S Kumars Nationwide and Manaksia gained 6.4 to 9.6pc, while Murli, Subhkam Capital, Prraneta Ind, Piramal Life and JMD Telefilms tanked 3.8 to 5.5pc.

11:50 AM

Sensex opens 25 points higher; SBI, Cipla gain

Nifty opened on positive with some consolidation. According to experts Nifty may touch the 5300 mark in the later trade.

At 9:02 am, Nifty was trading at 5252, up 6.5 points and the Sensex was at 17543, up 25 points. The CNX Midcap gained 14 points to 7607 and the BSE Smallcap moved up 30 points to 8492.

Among the frontliners, buying interest were seen in SAIL, SBI, Cipla, Tata Power, PNB, Wipro, Hindalco, Reliance Infrastructure, Bharti Airtel (above Rs 300), ONGC, TCS, Reliance Communications and Jairprakash Associates.

However, losers in the early trade were Infosys, HDFC, M&M and ITC.

Midcap & Smallcap Space:

Strides Arcolab is eyeing stake sale in Generic Pharma, PE funding. The stock gained 1pc.

Welspun Gujarat rose 1pc and MSK Projects jumped up 3pc, as Welspun has bought 75pc stake in MSK.

Berger Paints surged 4pc. S Kumar Nationwide and Alok Industries gained over 1%.

Recently listed - United Bank of India went up 1pc while Texmo Pipes plunged another 8pc to Rs 109 a share.

Andhra Bank and Canara Bank shot up 1pc.

Dalmia Cement rallied 2.04pc on restructuring plan.

Apollo Tyres lost 0.7pc.

9:30 AM

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