Sensex closes at 20,286 for 2007

Sensex closes at 20,286 for 2007

Saurabh Kumar for NDTVMond ay, December 31, 2007 (Mumbai):

Markets closed mixed on Monday, the last trading day of the year 2007, with the benchmark index Sensex at 20,287 making a gain of 0.4 per cent or 80 points. The 30-share index touched a day high of 20,484 levels.

In the broader markets, Nifty held up in green by 0.97 per cent. The 50-share index closed at 6,137 levels. While buying emerged in oil & gas, healthcare and real estate counters, information technology counters were hit.

�The oil & gas is a reliable space and anyone can invest money in these counters and relax as they will definitely reap benefit in long-term. Media and multiplex counters will also boom in 2008. Education is a booming space and more corporatisation is happening. I won�t be surprised to see schools getting listed,� said Rajesh Jain, Director & CEO, Pranav Securities.

�It is immaterial even if we close above the all time high or not, rather we should be satisfied that we are closing so near to it. As we move towards the Budget, the markets will saturate and we will have to be very selective about our scrip selection. There is going to momentum play in the first quarter,� said Anu Jain, Technical Advisor, The Omniscient Securities.

The Asian markets also closed mixed on Monday. While Hong Kong�s Hang Seng closed firm making a gain of 1.62 per cent, Japan�s Nikkei and South Korea�s Kospi closed in the negative territory by over 0.6 per cent each.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Ranbaxy and ITC Ltd led the positive sentiment in the BSE-30 pack. The stocks registered smart gains of over 1.9 per cent each.

Among the NSE-50 scrips, Tata Power Company, Zee Entertainment, BPCL, Idea Cellular and Cairn India were some of the key gainers; they firmed up by over 4 per cent per cent each.

However, Infosys Technologies, Ambuja Cements, HDFC, Nalco and Sterlite Industries were the few counters which lost ground. The stocks slipped into red by over 1.36 per cent each.

Healthcare firm

BSE healthcare index firmed up by 1.48 per cent or 64 points was the biggest gainer among the sectoral indices. Real estate, metal and oil & gas indices also gained ground.

FDC Ltd at Rs 47 surged 9.94 per cent or Rs 4.25 led the gains in the healthcare pack. Dishman Pharma (up 7.29 per cent), Matrix Laboratories (up 4.57 per cent), Fortis Healthcare (up 4.35 per cent), Opto Circuits (up 4.18 per cent) and Aventis Pharma (up 3.69 per cent) were some of the key gainers.

Buying was visible in real estate counters with Kolte-Patil Developers, Puravankara Projects, Indiabulls Real Estate, Akruti City and HDI firming up by over 2.79 per cent each.

Metal counters extended their gains Monday with Ispat Industries, Gujarat NRE Coke, Maharashtra Seamless, Jindal Saw, Jindal Stainless and SAIL gaining over 1.74 per cent each.

Action was also visible in oil & gas counters with HPCL (up 7.69 per cent), IOC (up 7.48 per cent), Cairn India (up 4.37 per cent) and Aban Offshore (up 2.69 per cent) emerging as some of the key gainers.

However, information technology counters lost momentum once again with NIIT Tech, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and I-Flex solutions shedding over 0.44 per cent each.