Key drivers in the dash to 15000

At 15000 points, the BSE Sensex is now at a level that many investors would not have believed possible just two years ago. Agreed, stock prices have repeatedly broken previous highs and crossed new milestones in recent years. But what distinguishes the recent rally to 15000 from the others before it? And what were the key sector- and stock-specific drivers this time?

The universe of listed stocks was categorised into different market capitalisation ranges to unearth trends in large-, mid- and small-cap stocks in the recent rally. The following trends distinguished the current rally from that of September 2006 (when the index regained its May peak):

The present rally enjoyed broader participation from the large-cap and emerging large-cap stocks. The rally was also marked by the resurgence of mid-cap stocks, driven by strong earnings; these occupy big chunks of most individual inve stors’ portfolios.

Apart from infrastructure, capital goods and the others in the limelight, low-profile sectors such as steel and banking were the key drivers. This rally actually saw a greater divergence between sectors, in contrast to the investor beh aviour in 2006, when most sectors underwent a re-rating.

The returns show considerable divergence in returns between individual stocks within a sector, some notching up gains while others suffered losses. This suggests that this time round, investors paid more attention to individual busines ses and their prospects, rather than going by a broad sectoral “theme.”

The recent gains in stock prices were in the backdrop of firm global cues, steady inflows from foreign institutional investors and mutual funds, and with improving liquidity playing its part in leading the Sensex to the magical 15k point. The conclusions are based on an analysis of stock price returns between February 8, 2007 (the previous market peak), just before the interim sell-off began, and July 6, when the Sensex breached the 15k level. A universe of 2,476 stocks was considered.

More large-caps

The latest market rally was marked by a broad-based participation, even within the universe of 121 large-cap stocks (defined as those with a market capitalisation of over Rs 5000 crore). Interestingly, six out of ten stocks in this space now trade at values higher than their February levels; every third stock in the category gained more than 20 per cent.

The gainers list featured unexpected stocks — GMR Infrastructure (72 per cent), Reliance Petroleum (67 per cent), Aban Offshore (66 per cent), Reliance Capital (59 per cent) and ABB (48 per cent) being some of the prominent gainers.

The rally was also marked by the absence of the usual performers such as Infosys, TCS and auto majors Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto. While Bajaj Auto (30 per cent decline) led the losers list, stocks such as Essar Steel, Bharat Forge, Hindalco and ITC lost about 10-20 per cent in value.

Emerging large-cap stocks, however, remained in the neutral zone, with only about 56 per cent of them gaining in value. Given the investor fancy for stocks in the capital goods, engineering, realty and construction sectors, it was not a shock to see them top the gainers’ list in their segments.

One out of six stocks that gained belonged to these sectors. However, some stocks from these sectors also figured in the losers’ list, pointing to a possible shift in stock preferences within these sectors.

While stocks such as Alstom Projects, Praj Industries, AIA Engineering and Voltas notched up gains, Atlanta, Ansal Properties, Mahindra Gesco and Akruti Nirman were lower by 16-75 per cent.

Pharma stocks, bucking their previous trend, gained in value. With the exception of Divi’s Lab (77 per cent gains), the gains were modest, with half the stocks appreciating 6-15 per cent.

Emerging large-caps have been defined as those with a market capitalisation of Rs 2,000-5,000 crore, which is a sample of 118 stocks.

Mid-caps join in

The most important trend evident from the recent rally is the revival in mid-cap stocks, after a prolonged sluggish phase. In stark contrast to the September 2006 rally, the current upsurge could, to a great extent, be attributed to the participation of mid-cap stocks. While the re-rating of mid-cap stocks could well be a function of the good earnings numbers, a good chunk of the gains can also be attributed to the perceived stiff valuations for large-cap stocks, which forced investors to look elsewhere for opportunities.

In the year ended March 2007, mid-cap stocks constituting the CNX Midcap Index recorded about 56 per cent growth in earnings on the back of a 45 per cent increase in revenues.

Another notable feature was investors’ greater selectivity in stocks and sectors. While capital goods, construction and engineering retained their attention; individual stocks within the sectors recorded divergent trends.

Sugar stocks, backed by institutional and fund buying, made a comeback, appreciating 9-100 per cent. Other prominent gainers were India Infoline (97 per cent), NIIT (91 per cent), IFCI (90 per cent), Asian Electronics (72 per cent) and UTV Software (67 per cent).

Manugraph India, GHCL, Welspun India, Allsec Technologies and Ansal Housing, however, topped the losers’ list, shedding 27-37 per cent.

While the overall picture remained bland with one stock appreciating for every one that declined, it was worth noting that mid-cap stocks recorded the highest price appreciation during this period relative to other market cap categories. Mid-caps are defined as stocks with a market capitalisation of Rs 500-2,000 crore — a sample of 314 stocks in the analysis.

Small-caps, however, remained the only category to be left out of the party. Seven out of ten stocks failed to touch their February highs. Some of the well-known small-caps that suffered erosion were House of Pearl, KRBL, Lok Housing, Marg Constructions and R-Systems.

However, driven by news, select stocks did see a build-up in buying interest. Stocks such as Usher Agro (259 per cent), Autolite Industries (221 per cent), Oil Country (153 per cent), Bank of Rajasthan (66 per cent) and TRF (54 per cent) appreciated in value.

Small-caps are stocks with market capitalisation less than Rs 2,000 crore, which were 1,923 stocks in the total sample.

Sectoral trends

Though the popularity of sectors such as construction, engineering and capital goods was apparent in the current rally, a study of stock prices on a sectoral basis did throw up a few surprise performances.

Steel stocks, unlike the September rally, topped the gainers list with an average price increase of 18 per cent. Among the prominent performers in this sector were Bhushan Steel, Jindal Steel and JSW Steel. Tata Steel also made a strong rebound, gaining about 35 per cent.

Banks, media, retail and telecom service providers followed next in the list. Bank of Rajasthan, Prime Focus and Bharti Airtel were among the prominent gainers in these sectors, respectively.

Concerns on interest rate hikes and an impending slowdown of the heavy commercial vehicles segment took its toll on auto companies, which slumped about 20 per cent.

Cement stocks, too, fell on policy intervention in cement pricing. Notably, Budget blues extended to other sectors as well. The withdrawal of the 80IA tax benefit for construction companies with retrospective effect led to underperformance of stocks in the sector.

However, IT stocks, conspicuous by their absence in the recent rally, had good reason for their underperformance.

The introduction of the minimum alternate tax and proposal to bring employee stock options under the fringe benefit tax scanner added to the sector’s woes, as did the sudden spurt in the rupee vis-À-vis the dollar.

Textile stocks too suffered on the bourses; another backlash of the rupee appreciation. Eight out of ten stocks in the sector quoted at prices lower than February levels. Birla VXL, Raj Rayon and Celebrity Fashions were some of the stocks that shed value.

Pointers to investors

Overall market capitalisation between the two highs registered a 13 per cent growth while the Sensex value appreciated only 2 per cent, suggesting that the Sensex gains have dampened wealth creation for investors.

Total turnover in both cash market and derivative segment have grown by about 50 per cent over this period, suggesting greater investor participation. In the same period, foreign institutional investors pumped in about Rs 18,500 crore.

Despite concerns on this score, liquidity remained comfortable with companies raising about Rs 25,000 crore through initial public offers and other offers during this period.

Despite rising stock prices, institutions and the owners of businesses remained confident about their companies. Promoter holdings increased in about 17 per cent of the stocks, while 15 per cent of the stocks saw an increase in foreign institutional holdings.

Indian shares close above 15,000 for first time

India's benchmark share index hit a sixth straight record high on Monday and closed above 15,000 for the first time, buoyed by gains in software services and telecoms stocks on expectations of good quarterly results.

Export-driven software services firms such as Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services extended gains even as some analysts expected them to report their earnings were hit by the rupee's rise of almost 7 percent against the dollar in the June quarter.

"There is a feeling that the overall business visibility is still high," said Sandeep Neema, a fund manager with JM Financial Mutual Fund.

"Guidance in dollar terms could remain the same or could be upped in some cases, and people are not expecting any significant further appreciation in rupee for the time being at least."

The 30-share BSE index ended up 0.55 percent, or 81.61 points, at a record close of 15,045.73, after rising to a record high of 15,085.22 during trade. The index has risen 2.7

percent so far this month, hitting a record high each day.

More gains were expected. Citigroup expects the index to

reach 16,000 by year end, and 18,400 at the end of 2008.

Citigroup said it was "overweight" on banks, capital goods, information technology services, telecom and media stocks, and was "underweight" on energy, materials, pharmaceuticals and utilities.

Second-ranked software exporter Infosys, which kicks off the results season for the sector on Wednesday, rose 1.1 percent, and sector leader Tata Consultancy rose 1.5 percent. Both stocks posted their highest closes since June 15.

Infosys is forecast to report a rise of more than 21 percent rise in net profit for the June quarter, a Reuters poll showed.

Engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd., which reports its results on July 19, hit a record high during trade before closing up 2.2 percent. The stock has gained 21 percent since the end of May.

Shares in top mobile firm Bharti Airtel Ltd. gained 2 percent on expectations strong subscriber growth would help it post a better-than-expected rise in earnings, traders said.

Twenty-one of the benchmark index's component stocks rose. In the broader market, 1,626 gainers beat 1,036 losers on volume of 267.6 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index ended up 0.79 percent at a record close of 4,419.40, after hitting a lifetime high of 4,427.55 during the day.

Elsewhere in the region, Karachi's 100-share index added 0.25 percent to a record close of 14,020.90, after hitting a lifetime high of 14,079.26. But Colombo's All-Share index ended 0.52 percent lower at 2,510.92, its lowest close since May 30.

STOCKS THAT MOVED

* Shares in construction firm Roman Tarmat Ltd. closed at 319.85 rupees on their debut, after listing at 295 rupees, a 69 percent premium to their issue price of 175.

* Shares in Yash Birla group firms Zenith Brila, Birla Kennametal and Birla Power Solution surged after reports that the group planned a merger of the firms, as well acquisitions, investments and the sale of non-core units to steamline operations and focus on textiles, autoparts, lifestyle and power. Shares in Zenith Birla rose 20 percent, Birla Kennametal 5 percent and Birla Power 4.2 percent.

MAIN TOP THREE BY VOLUME

* IFCI Ltd. on 17.3 million shares

* Roman Tarmat Ltd. on 8.2 million shares

* Reliance Natural Resources Ltd on 4.2 million shares

Bulls have tough times ahead

The bull market does not end till the last bear has given up hope of a reversal in trend—that’s an old saying among market players. Going purely by this contrarian indicator, bulls can sit pretty for the time being.

Though bruised from repeated defeats over the past many months, bears have not given up hope yet and are looking for a suitable opportunity to strike back.

But if one were to look at some key indicators at hand, bulls are not going to find it easy defending Point 15K, which they had captured on Friday.

Firstly, valuations. At a one-year forward price to earning ratio of roughly 20, Indian equities do not rank among the cheapest in the emerging markets universe.

The high P/E can be justified to the extent that India offers a wide array of sectors to choose from, a liquid market, an effective regulatory framework and good corporate governance. But the tribe of analysts voicing concern about the Indian market beginning to look overvalued is growing.

The high base effect appears to be catching up with India Inc. Brokerages expect the cumulative earnings of Sensex companies for the April-June quarter to grow around 19%, compared with the same period last year. This is well below the growth estimates being flashed a year or two ago. For next year, analysts have toned down growth projections further.

Look carefully through the pile of research reports churned out by broking firms daily. The number of earnings and rating downgrades—something very rare till a year ago—is on the rise.

Already, players are eyeing the Infosys Technologies guidance on Wednesday uneasily. Tech stocks have been going through a rough phase because of the rising rupee, and Infy’s guidance may hold the key to the short-term trend in the sector.

Loan growth—a key indicator of demand in the economy—is also showing signs of cooling off, thanks to RBI’s efforts to rein in inflation by hiking interest rates. Loans to corporates and individuals dipped by Rs 30,532 crore between April and June 22. Even discounting the fact that corporates may be borrowing from sources other than banks, there is no denying that the average consumer is feeling the heat of rising rates.

So what is the saving grace for the market? Inflation is under control and this has raised hopes that banks may not hike interest rates anytime soon. Most players feel that a correction, if at all it comes, will be sparked by global factors rather than domestic ones. So what is the best strategy under these conditions? Majority of brokerages are advising their clients to follow a stock-specific approach.

Mutual Funds outperform Sensex

Marketmen may be jubilant about the Sensex touching the 15,000-point milestone, but mutual fund investors are laughing all the way to the bank, thanks to many funds outperforming the key index in the last 12 months.

While the 30-share Sensex has grown about 40% since July 2006, when it was quoting around 10,600 points, 106 funds have given higher returns than the bellwether.
Among the best performing equity funds are Standard Chartered Equity with 79% returns over a year, JM Basic (76%), ICICI Prudential Services (75%), ICICI Infrastructure (63%) and DBS Chola (61%), according to data complied by ValueResearchOnline.

The assets under management of the 32 fund houses in the country have grown 25% to over Rs4 trillion in the first 6 months of the year, the latest data of Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) shows.

“The new levels of the benchmark index show more demand for equities and is a sign of recognition for the strength and potential of Indian economy,” Amfi head A.P. Kurien said.

While a bullish market does not affect the mutual fund industry directly, Kurien said the funds “are pleased that it implies a strong growth potential for the markets.” The Sensex on Friday crossed the historic 15,000 mark to touch an intra-day high of 15,007.22. It, however, ended the day at 14,964.12—which is still a new closing high.

“Investors are happy with the milestone... Some of the funds have performed better than the Sensex of late as growth in the mid-cap has led the rise in blue chips,” ValueResearch CEO Dhirendra Kumar said. Dismissing concerns of a correction after every milestone, Kumar said a slight correction should not bother MF investors as long as the funds remain in the black.

Sensex stocks aren’t more expensive

Current PE multiple of Sensex at 21.5 times (it was over 22 times in May 2006).

Lower PE means investors are not paying more than they did then.

Despite 15000 level, earnings growth has mostly outpaced stock price gains.

Cement, pharma stocks see sharp decline in PE; select IT, banking stocks see expansion.

With the BSE Sensex at the 15000-mark, should you be wary of entering the stock markets at this juncture? No more than you were last May. Two-thirds of the Sensex stocks are today available at price-earnings multiples (PE multiples) that are cheaper than their May 2006 levels.

The current price-earnings multiple of the BSE Sensex is at 21.5 times, lower than the multiple of over 22 times in May 2006 (both based on trailing earnings). Though the Sensex has zoomed by 18 per cent from 12600 to 15000 levels, earnings growth has mostly outpaced stock price gains.

The lower PE multiple indicates that investors buying Sensex stocks today are, in effect, not paying more (in relation to the company’s earnings) than they did in May last year.

Sharp declines

Stocks in the cement, pharmaceutical and FMCG sectors are key ones that have seen a sharp decline in their PE multiples between last May and now. Cement companies such as ACC, Grasim and Ambuja Cements suffered a sharp decline in their PEs, despite a scorching pace of earnings growth in 2006-07.

Expectations of an erosion in the pricing power of cement companies following policy intervention contributed to this trend. Pharma stocks Ranbaxy Labs and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories have also seen a decline in their multiples as stock prices have not kept pace with their strong earnings growth.

The same can be said for stocks such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and ITC. HUL now trades at 28 times its FY 07 earnings, down from a multiple of 43 times, a year ago. Market players feel that the already rich valuations for these stocks contributed to their recent underperformance.

Auto stocks

Concerns about a possible slowdown in automobile sales after the series of interest rate hikes seem to have impacted automobile stocks, with stocks such as Tata Motors or Bajaj Auto now trading at lower PE multiples.

While stocks from the cement, FMCG and pharma sectors have turned less expensive, select stocks from the IT and banking space have seen an expansion in their PE multiples over this period.

Wipro, ICICI Bank and Satyam Computer are some of the stocks that are trading at higher valuations than last year.

Is correction on cards?

After a few hiccups earlier this week, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex made its way past the psychological 15,000 mark on Friday. Despite negative cues from Asia and Europe, bulls romped ahead to end the week at all-time highs.

Friday, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 14,964, up 102 points or 0.69% after making a new intra-day high of 15,007.22.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 4385, up 0.71% or 31 points, touching a fresh of 4411 earlier.

As India Inc gears up for the earnings season, which kicks off next week, how are markets poised from hereon?

“With the Sensex at 15000 and Nifty at 4400, we are treading the danger zone. Profit booking may emerge at these levels as people have been waiting for these psychological levels so that they make an exit,” said Hitesh Sheth, head-technical research, Prabhudas Lilladher.

Sheth warns that market is headed for a correction. “The Nifty may fall to 4250-4300 while the Sensex may see a 500-point dip to 14500 levels,” he said.

DD Sharma, senior vice president at AnandRathi Securities said, “the market has achieved what it wanted to. Considering a near-term horizon of around two months, the market is expected to consolidate. In fact, the upside is limited.”

Sharma expects select under priced stocks to outperform the indices. In his view, in the banking space, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank are likely to witness an upside.

Among the construction stocks, he finds Hindustan Constructions, Nagarjuna Constructions, and Gammon India attractive.

IT bellwether Infosys Technologies will kick off the earnings season Wednesday.

Friday, IT stocks moved up and the pullback in this sector is expected to continue ahead of the results.

“Technology stocks have underperformed the market in the last few months. They made no contribution to recent rally because of the rupee appreciation against dollar. Ahead of results, heavyweights in the space are likely to see an upside,” said DD Sharma.

However, an analyst from a local brokerage said, “the IT sector is likely to remain lacklustre until Infosys results are out. Market would be looking at the impact of rupee appreciation.”

He added that the IT companies are not likely to announce disappointing figures. “These companies have got good hedging strategies which can cap losses. If the rupee appreciation is compensated by higher volume growth, then the impact would not be much.”

Dalal Street on a nostalgia trip

Jeetendra Martak, a 55-year old Bombay Stock Exchange broker, ordered tea for his broker friends to celebrate Sensex hitting the 15,000 mark.

“In early 1980s, when Sensex was around 400, I went to a seminar where an economist predicted that it would go up to 1,000 in next three to four years,” he recalls. “We laughed him off. But Sensex did reach that level in a matter of few years. It’s an amazing feeling to see the Sensex at 15,000 because, unlike in the past, it’s no longer an operator-driven market.”

As the 133-year old exchange’s benchmark index touched a new milestone, the old-time brokers had a feeling of nostalgia. After the electronic system was introduced in 1995, brokers no longer have to meet each other in the trading ring or the hall.
“It’s a great feeling to see that our stock markets have reached such a high level,” recalls Vidyut Devendra Kumar, a BSE broker who inherited his father’s broking business in 1975. “But the old world charm was different. If there was a news of stock price going up, we could see the happiness on each other’s face as we were in the same trading hall. Whether it was a jobber, sub-broker or a broker, everyone would enjoy the lunch together. Now, I don’t know who’s buying my shares or from whom I am buying.”

Under the earlier system, trading was restricted to two hours: 12-2pm. The prices of stocks were updated every half an hour and were displayed on a board.
There was also a live commentary of the market for the trading ring, done by aRashik Bhai.

This has now been replaced by live commentary on business channels and the internet, where one can see prices in real time.

Jasvant Parekh, a broker who has been trading even before the birth of Sensex in 1978-79, recalls how making Rs2,000 a day in the trading ring gave a great sense of pride to the broking community. “Today people make Rs5 lakh a day and that’s quite normal,” he says.

He says he is a bit surprised by the Sensex level. “It was only by word of mouth we used to get an idea about who is buying and who is selling a particular scrip,” says Parekh. “Or people used to blindly follow whatever Harshad Mehta used to say,” referring to the broker who ended up being blamed for India’s biggest stock market scam.

“Nobody could have thought that Sensex will go up to 15,000,” says Madhukar Sheth, a 58-year-old broker. “I have made a lot of money since I entered the business in 1975 but, had the market moved this way during our time, I would have made money faster and splurged the way the youngsters do today.”

Sensex hits 15000 mark

The market sent jitters amongst the investors in early trades, as the Sensex opened at 14843, lost ground on sustained selling to slip below the 14830 mark and touched the day's low of 14826. However, renewed buying ensured the Sensex remained in positive territory thereafter. The strong buying in IT and CG stocks lifted the Sensex above the 15000 mark to an intra-day high of 15007. The Sensex finally ended the session with gains of 0.69% and was up 102 points at 14964, while the Nifty advanced 0.71% and was up 31 points at 4385.

The breadth of the market was overwhelmingly positive. Of the 2,662 stocks traded on the BSE 1,476 stocks advanced, 1,104 stocks declined and 82 stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices closed higher except Metal, HC, Bankex and CD stocks. The BSE IT index rose 3.31% at 4950 followed by the BSE Teck index (up 2.47% at 3814), the BSE CG index (up 1.25% at 12776), and the BSE IT index (up 0.44% at 4903).

Only nine blue chips failed to attract buying support while 21 Sensex stocks finished with gains. On the back of strong buying Satyam soared 5.40% at Rs489. TCS jumped by 4.44% at Rs1159, Wipro surged 3.02% at Rs519, Infosys added 2.85% at Rs1971, HDFC Bank advanced 2.10% at Rs1153, ACC moved up by 1.85% at Rs1041, NTPC rose 1.70% at Rs155, L&T scaled up 1.67% at Rs2370 and Gujarat Ambuja was up 1.67% at Rs131. Other heavyweights also gained 0.50-1% each. However, ICICI Bank shed 2.37% at Rs982 while Cipla ended marginally lower at Rs212, down 1.87%.

Among the IT stocks Silverline Technologies surged 9.94% at Rs13.60, HOV Services spurted 9.76% at Rs225, Helios jumped 9.26% at Rs158, Asia CERC added 6.21% at Rs196 and Zenith Info gained 5.00% at Rs566. In the tech pack Tech Mahindra vaulted 4.82% at Rs1464, TCS soared 4.44% at Rs1159, Zee Enterprises zoomed 3.84% at Rs311, Balaji Tele advanced 3.74% at Rs231 and Wipro gained 3.02% at Rs519.

Over 55.21 lakh DLF shares changed hands on the BSE followed by RPL (39.02 lakh shares), Cairn India (33.06 lakh shares), ICICI Bank (32.52 lakh shares) and IDBI (25.83 lakh shares).

ICICI Bank registered a turnover of Rs319 crore on the BSE followed by DLF (Rs318 crore), Reliance Communication (Rs143 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs131 crore) and SBI (Rs98.58 crore)

Sensex hits 15,000

The benchmark BSE 30-share Sensex pierced the psychologically important 15,000 level at about 13:20 IST today, 6 July 2007.

At 13:29 IST, the Sensex was up 101 points to 14,963. It struck a record high of 15,007.22 at 13:21 IST

It has taken seven months for the Sensex to move from 14,000 to 15,000. The index had first hit 14,000 on 5 December 2006. In contrast, it had taken just 26 trading sessions for the Sensex to reach the 14,000 level after it had hit the 13,000-mark on 30 October 2006.

On BSE, a deal took place in State Bank of India (SBI) at Rs 1,760. This is way above the ruling market price of Rs 1,570. And the quantity executed at that price was not minuscule: 16,762 shares changed hands in the stock at the price.

The deal partly helped the Sensex to achieve the 15,000 level, though the deal alone did not play a role as most of the Sensex constituents were firm today. Twenty-five of the 30 Sensex stocks were in the positive zone. Further, most of the sectoral and niche indices on BSE were in the green.

India's wholesale price index rose 4.13% in the 12 months to 23 June 2007, higher than the previous week's increase of 4.03% due to a rise in some food and mineral prices, government data released noon today, 6 July 2007, showed.

Two of the three major European markets --- London and France ---were in the green, whereas the German market edged lower.

Asian markets had recouped early losses and most were trading in the positive zone. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Koera and Taiwan were up by between 0.2% to 1%.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3,444 crore compared with a turnover of Rs 2,547 crore at about 12:30 IST.

Buying was conspicuous in IT and telecom stocks. Satyam Computer rose 3.4% to Rs 480, TCS 2.8% to Rs 1141, Wipro 1.8% to Rs 513.50, and Infosys 1.7% to Rs 1949.

Among telecom stocks, Bharti Airtel rose 2% to Rs 871 and Reliance Communications 1.9% to Rs 555.75.

The market breadth was strong: 1,678 shares rose on BSE as against 891 that declined, while 86 were unchanged.

Sensex hits 15,000

The Sensex has crossed another landmark of 15,000, in mid-noon trades today.

The Sensex after a flat start, gained momentum in late morning deals on the back of renewed buying interest in technology stocks ahead of the earnings season.

Reliance Communications and TCS have rallied 2.5% each to Rs 559 and Rs 1,137, respectively.

Reliance Energy and Satyam have surged over 2% each to Rs 605 and Rs 474, respectively.