Power stocks rally amid volatility

The market failed to hold on to its morning gains and buckled under sustained selling pressure in noon trades, with the index gyrating by a huge 273 points during intra-day trades. Shrugging off the flat US and European indices, the Sensex took a cue from positive Asian indices in early trades and rallied sharply on substantial buying support to touch the day's high of 14480, up 156 points over the last close of 14324. However, the ongoing bearish trend pulled the market down with the index plunging deep into the red to touch an intra-day low of 14207, down 117 points from the last close. The Sensex managed to recover some losses towards the close and ended the session below the 14450 mark at 14423, up 99 points, while Nifty advanced 46 points to close at 4293.

The breadth of the market was positive, with the gainers outpacing the losers by 2.25:1 on the BSE. Of the 2,668 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,801 stocks advanced, 797 stocks declines and 70 stocks ended unchanged. Most of the sectoral indices on the BSE remained above their yesterday’s close. BSE Power gained 2.82% followed by BSE CG (up 2.52%), BSE HC (up 2.39%) and BSE Realty (up 2.07%). Only BSE Bankex closed with marginal losses.

Among the Sensex stocks, JP Associates was the leading gainer, soaring 6.01% to Rs213.40 for the day. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries advanced 5% to Rs1345.15, Tata Consultancy Services jumped 4.33% to Rs382.05, Tata Motors shot up 4.20% to Rs357, Grasim Industries added 4.20% at Rs2,322.25, while ACC, Reliance Infrastructure, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco Industries and Bharat Heavy Electricals closed with gains of 2-3% each. Among laggards, HDFC Bank tumbled 1.97% to Rs1,456.35, HDFC shed 1.96% to Rs2,309.25 and ICICI Bank declined 1.16% to Rs689.35. Sterlite Industries, Reliance Industries and Ranbaxy Laboratories lost 1% each.

However, majority of power stocks logged significant gains. Torrent flared 16.05% to Rs164.50, Suzlon Energy advanced 9.07% to Rs116.70, GVK Power & Infrastructure added 5.52% to Rs42.05, Crompton Greaves gained 4.99% to Rs290.25 and Neyveli Lignite was up nearly 4.87% to Rs128.25.

Over 4.70 crore shares of Reliance Industries changed hands on the BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (2.30 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (2.29 crore shares), Unitech (1.89 crore shares) and Firstsource Solutions (1.64 crore shares).

Valuewise, Suzlon Energy clocked a turnover of Rs268 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Industries (Rs210 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs209 crore), Educomp Solutions (Rs180 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs173 crore).