Profit-booking restricts Sensex climb in thin trading

Our Markets Bureau

Mumbai, May 7: VOLATILITY returned once again on Monday to both the Bombay and the National Stock Exchanges, even when the uncertainty on the fate of trading system continued to affect overall trading sentiments.

The Sebi’s postponement of its decision on banning the deferral products however did have a positive impact on Monday’s trading with select buying in leading counters both from the new and old economy sectors.

The market opened on a positive note in the morning with the BSE benchmark index going up by around 50 points at 3562.97 against the previous day’s close of 3514.59.

During the day the 30-share Sensex touched a high of 3573.19 before closing at 3544.81, up by 30.22 points.
However, there was some profit booking at higher levels during the later part of the day which saw stocks losing the gains. the NSE’s S&P CNX Nifty also moved in a similar trend and closed at 1139.2, up 9.15 points from its previous close.

FIIs were busy buying in some of the fundamentally strong stocks, the dealers said. The activity was low on the bourses today because of Buddh Purnima, a bank holiday that saw no presence of both the FIIs and the local institutions like GIC and LIC.

In their absence the volumes were low and the main players today were the select mutual funds and UTI.
According to a fund manager with a domestic mutual fund, there was stock-specific value investments in the market.

On a day when the volumes in the market were low, stocks like HFCL, Global Telesystem, NIIT, Zee Telefilms were in good demand.

Cement stock too were again in limelight with index stocks Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Grasim, L&T, ACC all in the gainers list.

Gujarat Ambuja was up by 3.11 per cent at Rs 178.9, Grasim up by 2.94 per cent at Rs 309.9, L&T up by 2.19 per cent at Rs 221.50 and ACC by 1.86 per cent at Rs 142.50.

The mood in the market, however, remained dull as players awaited the Sebi’s decision on reviewing the banning the deferral products.

The next meeting is expected to be held on May 14.

“Till the decision is known the stock prices are likely to remain volatile,” a dealer said.

Accordingly, the volume will also be low as nobody wants to take fresh positions until it is clear whether the carry forward system will be there or not after this week.