A year to remember: 90% of stocks traded emerged as gainers

In calender 2003, 90 per cent of the total stocks traded on the bourses emerged as gainers while only 10 per cent stocks reported a decline in value.

Out of total 1,625 actively traded stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock prices of 1,450 companies soared while only 175 stocks ended up losers.

Out of the 1,450 gainers, seven stocks gained between 1,031.6 per cent and 2,117.9 per cent, while 40 stocks posted returns between 501-1000 per cent, 757 stocks between 101-500 per cent and 344 stocks between 51-100 per cent and the remaining stocks between 1-50 per cent.

Small cap company, Polychem, emerged as the top gainer with mind boggling 2,117.9 per cent rise in its price which rose from Rs 1.40 on December 31, 2002 to Rs 31.05 on December 24, 2003.

Another penny stock Bhansali Engineering Polymers ranked second in gainers list. Its stock price gained 1,983.1 per cent from Rs 8 to Rs 166.65 during the last one year.

Soni Infosys's which ranked third posted a 1,301 per cent return as its price rose from Rs 1 to Rs 14.01.

Transgene Biotek ranked fourth in the list with 1,203.3 per cent rise, followed by Aquastride Biotech (1,135.9 per cent), Torrent Cables (1,101.7 per cent), Automobile Corporation of Goa (1,074.1 per cent) and VBC Ferro Alloys (1,031.6 per cent).

The list of losers led by Pentium Infotech down 94.8 per cent, followed by Ramco Super Leathers (93.4 per cent), BKV Industries (87.7 per cent), Soundcraft Industries (84.9 per cent) and SKS Securities (84.5 per cent).

In value terms, ONGC emerged as the top gainer with Rs 54,478 crore rise (109.22 per cent) in market cap: from Rs 49,879 crore in 2002 to Rs 1,04,357 crore in 2003.