Volatility rises as F&O expiry nears

Key equity indices closed firm Thursday, after a fairly volatile session. Across sectors, capital goods were sharply higher while technology declined.
Asian indices helped Indian equities open up today, and firmed up on widespread buying. But the four-day rally attracted profit booking. The volatility heightened as shorts were unwound ahead of the Nifty June series expiry.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex ended 0.61 per cent or 87 points higher at 14499. The index made an intra-day high of 14526 and low of 14406.
National Stock Exchange’s 50-stock Nifty closed up 0.44 per cent or 19 points at 4267. Intra-day, it rose to a high of 4275 and low of 4220.
On BSE, 1437 shares advanced while 1134 declined, 82 remained unchanged.
“The trend in the market is still positive. The gyrations seen are natural, and as we come closer to the June expiry, it will increase,” said Shankar Char, head dealer at Centrum Capital.
“When the Nifty neared 4200, its support, fresh buying emerged. I believe the Nifty could touch 4375 shortly,” Char said.
Reliance Energy, up 4 per cent, was the biggest gainer on the Sensex. Larsen & Toubro (3.88 per cent), BHEL (3.64 per cent), Hindalco Industries (2.74 per cent), Reliance Communications (2.22 per cent) and HDFC (2 per cent) were the other gainers.
Hero Honda (1.08 per cent), Satyam Computer (1.06 per cent), Maruti Udyog (0.9 per cent), Bharti Airtel (0.78 per cent), Grasim Industries (0.67 per cent) were the biggest losers.
Technology stocks underperformed the broad market. The BSE IT Index was marginally lower at 4887. Patni Computer Systems slipped 2.34 per cent to Rs 514, Satyam was down 1.06 per cent at Rs 466.80 but Infosys Technologies ended 0.12 per cent higher at Rs 1,956 and Financial Technologies surged 4.47 per cent to Rs 2,807.
Sugar stocks turned sweet on the government announcement to increase the buffer stock. Shree Renuka Sugar rose 1.7 per cent to Rs 616, Bajaj Hindustan ended 1 per cent higher at Rs 165, Balrampur Chini was up 2 per cent to Rs 69.50.
Larsen & Toubro ended 3.88 per cent higher at Rs 2,106 after it bagged a $94.95-million contract for construction of two ships from BigLift Shipping of Netherlands.
Neyveli Lignite was up 1.63 per cent at Rs 62 after the government announced raising the royalty to states on coal and lignite by 14 per cent.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation shares ended nearly 4 per cent higher at Rs 273, after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal allowing steel baron Lakshmi Mittal to pick up 49 per cent stake in the state-run oil refiner's Bhatinda unit.