Sensex gains nominally in early trade

Mumbai, July 4: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex gained a modest 19.26 points to reach 14,825.77 in the first session, after opening stronger at 14,868.14 on value buying prompted by positive global cues.

''The market saw high volatility since the opening bell. It opened on a strong note tracking firm global equities, but is pared gains shortly after striking all-time high. It later recovered some ground, on value buying. Cement stocks gained on reports that cement firms have hiked prices by Rs 3-5 per 50 kilo gram bag across India effective today,'' market analysts observed.

Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index shaved-off nearly 5 points to slip into negative terrain at 4,352.75 from it's previous close of 4,357.55 after opening marginally higher at 4,258.25.

The market breadth, which was strong on the BSE in the very early part of the opening session, turned negative later with 1,351 shares declining as compared to 958 advancing and 66 remaining unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 16 advanced while the rest declined, exchange data revealed.

Cement stocks advanced on price hike. Ambuja Cements gained 3.38 per cent to Rs 128.60, on 7.43 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. Other cement stocks, ACC rose by 2.87 per cent to Rs 965.25 and Grasim surged by 1.20 per cent to Rs 2735, traders revealed.

The ongoing monsoon season, which is generally considered as a slack season for cement companies, failed to dampen monthly sales of cement companies. ACC's cement dispatches stood at 1.70 million tonne last month, up 9.67 per cent from 1.55 million tonne during the corresponding period last year. It produced 1.70 million tonne of cement compared to 1.53 tonne last year, a rise of 11 per cent.

The other winners were Hindustan Unilever, Cipla, Reliance Industries (RIL) The prominent losers were ONGC, State Bank of India, BHEL and HDFC Bank.

Asian stock markets rose today, with South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index hitting a fresh record high after stocks such as Hyundai Motor rose, while broader sentiment was lifted by fresh US takeover talk. Hang Seng was up 0.17 per cent to 22,188.52, Nikkei 225 rose by 0.10 per cent to 18,168.79, Seoul Composite was up 1.70 per cent to 1,836.28, and Taiwan Weighted was up 0.87 per cent to 9,074.90.

However, China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.63 per cent to 3,874.98 On Wall Street, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.3 per cent, while the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.5 per cent.

Oil prices struck a 10-month high above USD 73 a barrel yesterday on strong summer driving demand in the US. London Brent crude, seen as the best price gauge of the global oil market, settled up 30 cents to USD 72.93 a barrel after rising to USD 73.10 earlier.

UNI