130 firms trade at all-time highs on BSE

Stocks of 127 companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) have raced to touch their lifetime highs this month, even while the key domestic benchmark index, the 30-share Sensex, is still well below its all-time high of 21,000 that it had touched in January 2008.

The list includes 68 penny stocks on BSE which had a share price below Rs 10 trading near their lifetime highs. Another 512 stocks hit their 52-week highs on BSE, indicating a broad-based rally in the markets. Among the 'A' group stocks trading near their all-time highs are Bank of Baroda, Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Colgate, Dabur India, ITC, Jindal Steel, Punjab National Bank, Sesa Goa and GAIL.

Market experts said while the Sensex stocks had moved up sharply since March 2009, some of the small and mid-cap stocks had caught up with the rally only in the past couple of months and had still managed to touch their lifetime highs. On Thursday, both the BSE mid-cap and BSE small-cap index hit their 52-week high of 6,572 and 7,638, respectively.

Among those hitting lifetime highs are also stocks under surveillance or in the trader to trade category on BSE. This includes Duke Offshore, Global Capital, Krishna Deep, Linkson International, Pace Textiles, Parsharti Investments, S V Electricals, Sampada Chemicals, Sarthak Global, Simplex Trading, Splash Media, Urja Global and Veritas. Stock in the trader to trade category attract the five per cent circuit filter and delivery in these counters are compulsory. According to brokers, some of these counters under surveillance are highly operator-driven and traders should be cautious while buying these scrips.