Smithkline Scrips At 52-Week Peak

The SmithKline and Glaxo scrips were the major gainers of the day at major bourses following news that the two companies worldwide were in talks for a merger.

The SmithKline Beecham Pharma and SmithKline Consumer Healthcare flared up to new 52-week highs on both exchanges during intra day trading.

It was more of a sentiment driven rally as the market spontaneously reacted to news of a possible merger. Also it was in line with general bullish mood prevailing at the bourses, said a dealer at an institutional brokerage. On the BSE, the SmithKline Beecham Pharma scrip opened at Rs 556 and immediately shot up to a new 52 week high of Rs 590. However the scrip came under profit booking towards the close of trading session and ended the day at Rs 579.50, a gain of Rs 43 over the previous close.

On the NSE, the scrip touched a new 52 week high of Rs 594.90 during intra day trading.

The SmithKline Beecham Consumer scrip touched new 52 week highs of Rs 381.75 and Rs 382 on the BSE and NSE, respectively, during intra-day trading.

The Glaxo scrip saw a sharp spurt in trading volumes with 1.68 and 1.23 lakh shares changing hands on the BSE and NSE respectively as against a daily average of 10,000 to 15,000 shares.

On the BSE, the scrip gained Rs 24.50(Rs 358.75) while on the NSE, the scrip closed at Rs 358.35(+Rs 14).

The scrips which continued to witness selling pressure even in a rising market were Indian Rayon, East India Hotels(EIH) and Tata Hydro, all of them which touched new 52 week lows on the NSE during intra-day trading.

Trading in the EIH scrip was frozen at Rs 350, a new 52-week low after there were no sellers in the scrip.

Scrips which witnessed renewed buying support yesterday were Hindalco, Wartsila Diesel, BHEL, Bajaj Auto and Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. The HDFC scrip witnessed a negotiated deal of 34000 shares on the NSE at Rs 2864 levels which was almost at prevailing market prices.

The IPCL scrip witnessed a block trade of 1.38 lakh shares in the depository segment at an average price of Rs 56 per share.

Software scrips staged a sharp comeback yesterday with all the key stocks in the sector, Infosys, Satyam Computer and Pentafour Software posting sharp gains on substantial volumes.

The VSNL scrip continued to reel under selling pressure with the scrip crashing to a new 52-week low of Rs 696.50 on the NSE yesterday.