Rally continues to fifth consecutive trading session

Bulls carried on the momentum starting off the week with smart gains. Firm global cues coupled with buying momentum in the Metal Banking and Capital God stocks lifted Nifty to close above the 5,000 mark for the first time since February 29.

It looked like market players simply were least concerned about the hike in Cash Reserve Ratio. Having said that the banking stocks indeed opened lower, but as the day progressed they gained momentum and ended among the major gainers.

On the other hand the FMCG stocks were unable to hold on to their gains and slipped also the IT stocks after being in the limelight in the previous week slowed down a bit. Finally, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 258 points higher to close at 16,739 and the Nifty index ended 78 points higher to 4,037.

Overall about 2,048 stocks advanced; 675 stocks declined while 49 stocks remained unchanged. Among the 50-Nifty 37 stocks ended in green and 13 stocks ended in red.

Infotech Enterprises fell by 4% to Rs308 after the company announced its Q4 net profit at Rs260.1mn (up 4.5%) and sales rose 23.8% to Rs1.87bn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs315 and a low of Rs275 and recorded volumes of over 77,000 shares on BSE.

Axis Bank surged by over 7% to Rs881 after the company said that it’s full year profit was at Rs10.59bn (up 61.9%) and would pay dividend of Rs6 per share. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs890 and a low of Rs799 and recorded volumes of over 10,00,000 shares on BSE.

EKC gained by 2.5% to Rs302 after the company said that EKC group has successfully completed the acquisition process and has acquired all the assets of CP Industries, Inc., located in McKeesport, Pittsburgh, U.S.A (a division of Reunion Industries Inc, USA.) for an amount of US$66.3mn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs305 and a low of Rs298 and recorded volumes of over 28,000 shares on BSE.

National Aluminum advanced by over 3% to Rs435 after India's biggest alumina producer said that it is in talks with South African officials on selecting a site for its proposed aluminum smelter. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs438 and a low of Rs425 and recorded volumes of over 1, 00,000 shares on BSE.

L&T gained by over 2% to Rs2845 after reports said that the company may not sell it’s recently hived off ready-mix concrete division in 2008. The company also announced that it would develop Rs35bn commercial complex. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs2868 and a low of Rs2790 and recorded volumes of over 2, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

Punj Lloyd surged by over 5.5% to Rs360 after reports stated that the company is eyeing Indian Army’s US$1bn contracts for artillery. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs365 and a low of Rs342 and recorded volumes of over 10, 50, 000 shares on BSE.

Despite beating analyst expectations, Wipro declined by 1% to Rs453. The company announced that its net income climbed 1.6% to Rs8.75bn in the fourth quarter ended March 31. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs481 and a low of Rs451 and recorded volumes of over 5, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

Satyam fell by over 2% to Rs458. The company announced its Q4 results with net profit at Rs4.68bn (up 17.5%) and revenue rose 31.4% to Rs23.4bn. The company also said that they would pay 125% dividend. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs488 and a low of Rs456 and recorded volumes of over 15, 50, 000 shares on BSE.

Infosys after being in the limelight in the previous week, lost ground and was down by a percent to end at Rs1645. The company won five-year contract from CoBSEco to provide development and maintenance services. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs1702 and a low of Rs1629 and recorded volumes of over 3, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

Biocon rallied by over 12% to Rs504 after the company announced that the Board would consider declaration of Bonus Shares by the capitalization of reserves on April 22, 2008. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs509 and a low of Rs450 and recorded volumes of over 6, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

Dabur Pharma rose by over 6% to Rs73 after reports stated that the founders and some other shareholders sold 73.3% stake in the company to the Singapore unit of Germany's Fresenius Kabi AG. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs81 and a low of Rs73 and recorded volumes of over 9, 00, 000 shares on BSE.