Gujarat polls, IT stocks spread X'mas cheer in mkts

Mumbai: Dalal Street celebrated Christmas on Monday. Bulls took complete control after fighting with bears last week. Positive results from Gujarat election, strong buying interest in technology stocks after long series of underperformance and positive global cues have supported the markets. Sensex gained over 700 points and the Nifty up over 200 points. Midcaps and small caps also joined the party. Tech, banks, metal, oil, power, telecom and capital goods stocks were the frontrunners.

BJP has won Gujarat election for the fourth consecutive term and got 117 seats. Narendra Modi will become Chief Minister for third consecutive term. It has given positive indication that the mid-term poll will not happen in 2008. This election results cheered all Gujarat-based companies' shares.

Recently-listed Mundra Port gained all-time high at Rs 1192, up 12 per cent. Reliance Industries surged over 3 per cent. Other major gainers were Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals, Gujarat Ambuja Exports, Gujarat Apollo Industries, Gujarat NRE Coke, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company, Gujarat State Fertilizers Company and Gujarat Industries Power Co.

The market breadth was very strong; about 2077 shares have advanced, 981 shares declined, and 40 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Sensex gained 716.43 points or 3.74 per cent before closing the day at 19,854.12, up 691.55 points or 3.61 per cent. The Nifty fifty ended at 5985.10, up 218.60 points.

Technology stocks outperformed all indices after long tenure of underperformance on the back of rupee appreciation. The BSE IT Index surged 6.3 per cent in an intraday trade. It closed at 4,581.61, up 6.04 per cent. Star performers were Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, TCS, HCL Tech, Patni Computer and Mphasis.

Top gainers on the bourses were Wipro, Infosys, HDFC, Satyam, Reliance Energy, GAIL, VSNL and PNB. The BSE Midcap Index closed at 9,211.71, up 2.06 per cent and Small Cap Index gained 1.42 per cent at 11,980.57.

Total turnover for the day was at Rs 100366.06 crore, including NSE cash at Rs 14127.5 crore, NSE F&O at Rs 80577.10 crore and BSE cash at Rs 5661.46 crore.

Second biggest gainers were banking stocks, which includes PNB, IOB, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI. The BSE Bankex was up 363.15 points or 3.38 per cent at 11,101.74.

Metal stocks also shined. The BSE Metal Index shot up by 3 per cent at 18,820.79 due to buying interest in Jindal Saw, Nalco, Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa.

Oil stocks like GAIL, ONGC, BPCL, Reliance Petroleum, Essar Oil, RNRL, IOC and Reliance Industries surged higher. The BSE Oil & Gas Index was up 3.53 per cent at 12,678.32.

The BSE Power Index closed at 4,353.21, up 3.37 per cent. Power stocks including Areva T&D, Reliance Energy, BHEL, Suzlon Energy, Tata Power, CESC and Torrent Power charged up.

Realty companies like Mahindra Life, Anant Raj Ind, Parsvnath, Ansal Properties, Peninsula Land and Phoenix Mills have gone up by 3-7 per cent. The BSE Realty Index was up 1.76 per cent at 11,818.52.

The BSE Capital Goods Index gained 2.66 per cent at 19,223.88 on the back of strong buying in Areva T&D, Gammon India, Punj Lloyd, BHEL and Reliance Infra. Pharma stocks like Pfizer, Sun Pharma, Opto Circuits, Divis Labs and Ipca Labs ended higher. The BSE Healthcare Index was up 1.23 per cent at 4,294.83.

Buying interest was also seen in FMCG stocks including United Spirits, HUL, Bata India, United Breweries and P and G. The BSE FMCG Index gained 0.92 per cent at 2,218.74. The BSE Auto Index was up 0.82 per cent at 5,586.83. Stocks like M&M, Punjab Tractors, Tube Investment, Apollo Tyres and Tata Motors moved up.

Telecom stocks like VSNL, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Comm, MTNL, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices also ended with positive returns. IFCI, Reliance Energy and Reliance Industries were most active shares on the bourses.

Asian stocks also closed on strong note. Taiwan Weighted was up 194 points at 3434.53. Kospi gained 41.15 points at 1,919.47. Jakarta Composite closed at 2657.98, up 11.75 points. Shanghai Composite was up 132.48 points at 5,234.26.