04 - June - 2005

The BSE Sensex has ended with a gain of 4 points at 6,753 and the NSE Nifty lost 2 points and ended at 2,092. The forex markets remained closed today.
Stock prices moved in a tight band for almost the entire duration of the short three-hour trading session convened by the major Stock Exchanges, NSE and BSE today. Activity during the session that was scheduled to test the back-up facilities at the National Stock Exchange's site at Chennai, remained a low key affair. Buying interest remained mostly stock specific and the mood remained highly lackluster for a major part of the session.
While the beginning was in the positive territory, profit booking soon set in and took the indices to near their yesterdays closing levels. Among Sensex stocks, major gainers included Reliance Energy (4%), HLL (3%) and Hindalco (1%).Stocks from the software sector closed today on a mixed note and major gainers included MphasiS (6%), I-Gate Solutions (4%) and Satyam (1%).
In the banking sector, ICICI Bank notched up to Rs 393 and SBI moved a tad higher to Rs 666. Both the stocks were trading in the red during the day. Bank of India fell a rupee to Rs 99.
Carrying on from where they had left yesterday, stocks from the Reliance group closed today in a position of strength. Major gainers included Reliance Energy (4%), Reliance Capital (1%) and IPCL (1%).
Pharma stocks have taken a severe hit today. Ranbaxy dropped sharply to Rs 1,092 (down Rs 7).Bajaj Auto notched up to Rs 1,280 and M&M has declined 0.45%. Maruti however has shed Rs 3 to Rs 452. Carrying on from where they had left yesterday, stocks from the Reliance group closed today in a position of strength. Major gainers included Reliance Energy (4%), Reliance Capital (1%) and IPCL (1%). Some business dailies have reports that the warring Ambani brothers are in the final stages of arriving at an agreement to solve the ownership issue plaguing the Group companies. Official confirmation is however awaited and investors, to that extent, should exercise caution. Gains in Reliance Energy also seem to be propelled by recent news that the company will be setting up a 12,000 MW thermal power plant in Orissa at an investment of Rs 480 bn.
While the Nifty, which opened flat and moved in a range of around 11 points today, ended at 2032.35, netting a loss of 1.90 points, the 30 stock BSE benchmark index Sensex closed with a 4.15 points gain at 6753. The BSE barometer, which hit a high of 6772.09, swung in an intra-day range of a little over 35 points today.
Tracking the overnight fall in value of the tech laden Nasdaq composite index on Wall Street, IT stocks back home remained a bit sluggish today. Still, Satyam Computers (up 0.65%) managed to record notable gains even as Tata Consultancy Services (the stock will be making its debut as a Sensex constituent on Monday next week) and Infosys Technologies closed on a weak note due to lack of support. Wipro ended little changed from its previous closing price. Select FMCG stocks, led by Hindustan Lever (up 2.7%), had a profitable outing today. Colgate Palmolive notched up a gain of over 3%. However, ITC suffered a marginal loss. State Bank of India (up 0.6%) got off to a bright start but got its gains trimmed substantially due to selling at higher levels. Metal stocks Hindalco and Tisco moved up smartly, netting gains of around 1.4% and 1% respectively. Housing finance major HDFC surged nearly 1.3% on firm buying support following the government's decision to relax rules for external commercial borrowings, allowing NBFCs to raise overseas loans. ONGC suffered a sharp loss of around 1.65%. Construction major Larsen & Toubro slipped 1.4% due to weak support.

Top Gainers Jun 4, 2005

REL. ENERGY 549.90 3.63%
COLGATE 240.00 3.07%
HLL 150.80 2.72%
DABUR 132.30 2.32%
SUN PHARMA 554.35 1.95%

Top Losers

L&T 1,094.50 -1.63%
ONGC 926.25 -1.19%
HDFC BANK 540.00 -1.06%
GLAXO 768.00 -0.98%
TCS LTD. 1,282.10 -0.85%