It was a sense of deja vu. All Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Adag) stocks on Friday rose ahead of the Reliance group founder Dhirubhai Ambani?s birth anniversary on December 28.

?Adag stocks rallied on expectations that there will be some positive announcement on Dhirubhai?s birth anniversary,? said an official at a domestic brokerage requesting anonymity.

Historically, Adag stocks have always delivered good returns in December. ?The stocks rally every year around this time (December 28). But nothing comes out of it. Let?s see if this year is any different,? the broker said .

“The stocks rallied because of short covering as they were deeply oversold. As the market volume is tepid these days, traders rushed to cover their shorts fearing rollovers will be low,? KR Choksey Securities MD Deven Choksey said. ?Nothing has changed fundamentally for the stocks to rally,? he added.

Traders speculated that the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries may buy a stake in RComm. However, Reliance Industries spokesperson denied any such move.

?There is a buzz in the market that Reliance Industries may acquire a stake in Reliance Communications,? Kishor Ostwal, managing director of CNI Research told Bloomberg. ?The Mukesh Ambani group may be interested in the telecom tower business.?

The rally was led by Adag group?s flagship company Reliance Communications, which surged 10.4%. Another large group stock Reliance Infrastructure, which is also a component of benchmark indices, advanced 3.4%.

All six listed firms from the Adag pack closed with gains, with Reliance Power jumping 4.8%, Reliance Capital 2.8%, Reliance Broadcast Networks 5% and Reliance MediaWorks 6.2%. The Adag pack added Rs 6,115 crore in market capitalisation on Friday, taking the group?s total market cap to Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani group companies?Reliance Industries and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure didn?t see any kind of similar spurt and closed almost flat on Friday. The benchmark Sensex rose 91 points, or 0.45%, to 20,073.66 on Friday.

Adag group stocks had seen a similar rally in May, when they gained anywhere between 4% and 23%, after the brothers called truce by signing an agreement cancelling all their non-compete agreements.

In terms of stock performance, the Adag pack has been a laggard this year. Reliance Infra, Reliance Capital and RComm are down 29%, 24% and 1 8%, respectively, so far in 2010 while the Sensex has gained 15% during the same period.