Wednesday February 13, 03:30 PM
PSU magic continues... |
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By Equitymaster.com
Markets, after remaining firm for most of the day, fell towards the end. Profit booking was witnessed in software, auto, media and cement scrips. But select banking and FMCG stocks were in demand. While most of the PSU stocks gained, activity was mixed in pharma companies.
The BSE Sensex closed at 3,523 (up 25 points) and the NSE Nifty closed at 1,136 (up 6 points). The rupee was trading at Rs 48.66 per US dollar.
ONGC was up 20%. Investors seem quite bullish on this energy major. Some believe that ONGC is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of Oil Sector deregulation. With the government hinting that they will buy crude from ONGC at International prices post APM (April 1, 2002), the volumes in the stock zoomed. HPCL has already entered into a crude purchase agreement with the Libya National Oil Company for the purchase of 320,000 tonnes of crude per annum for its two coastal refineries.
MTNL (MTNL.BO, news) was up 8% today probably in expectations of disinvestment. Besides, the company has also targeted a higher mobile subscriber base towards which it is augmenting capacity. But it needs to be mentioned that mobile business contributes to a small portion of its revenues. VSNL was up 5%.
Most of the auto stocks, which have been rallying off late, were down on account of profit booking. However, Hero Honda (HROH.BO, news) , TVS Motors and LML were up. TVS was up 5% and is trading close to its 52-week high levels. Ashok Leyland (ASOK.BO, news) was the top loser (down 4%).
Top rung cement stocks closed on a weaker note. In fact, stocks like Gujarat Ambuja and ACC have fallen almost 10% in the last few trading days. This is despite the fact that per bag realisations in Mumbai, where Gujarat Ambuja has a strong presence, increased by Rs 6 per bag.
There was mixed activity in software stocks. Barring Infosys, CMC, HCL Infosys (HCLId.BO, news) , Mastek (MAST.BO, news) and SSI, most of the other stocks were trading lower. Mastek was up 8%. Amongst FMCG scrips, Marico, HLL, P&G, Bata, and Trent (TREN.BO, news) were the prominent gainers. PSU banking stocks were also in the limelight. Bank of India (BOI.BO, news) , SBI, Syndicate Bank and Corporation Bank were in the reckoning. Corporation Bank was up 10%.
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