Markets at a glance

TRADING DESK

Amid positive sentiments and value buying at lower levels, the markets continued its northward journey. For the week ended, Sensex jumped by 516 points or 5.21 per cent to settle at 10,401.30.

Nifty leapt by 152.30 points or 5.26 per cent to close at 3,042.70. In the first four trading sessions, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 288.7 crore while mutual funds were net buyers to the extent of Rs 66.56 crore.

Market breadth was extremely positive over the week with 27 out of 30 Sensex stocks ending in the positive. Reliance Industries, Infosys, Reliance Communication Ventures (RCVL), Tata Steel and ITC were the major contributors to the Sensex jump of 5.21 per cent.

Reliance Industries added 110 points to the Sensex and advanced 9.89 per cent to close the week at Rs 1011.95. Infosys (up by 6.89 per cent to Rs 2994.35), RCVL (up by 13.94 per cent to Rs 252.5 ), Tata Steel (up by 10.88 per cent to Rs 512.25) and ITC (up by 4.65 per cent to Rs 171.05) together contributed about 168 points to the index. On the downside, SBI (down 0.65 per cent to Rs 762.65) and Dr. Reddy's Labs (down 0.56 per cent to Rs 1,263.65) were the losers.

All sectoral indices ended the week in the positive territory. The biggest gainer was BSE Metals index, which gained 10.56 per cent.

JSW Steel (up by 18.15 per cent), Essar Steel (up by 16.57 per cent), Sterlite Industries (up by 15.08 per cent) and SAIL (up by 13.09 per cent) led to the gain in the index.

BSE Oil & Gas (up by 8.39 per cent), BSE IT (up by 5.49 per cent) and BSE PSU (up by 5.44 per cent) were the other major gainers.

All the major indexes ended slightly lower. The Dow Jones Industrials ended the week down 25.46 points, or 0.23 per cent, closing at 10.989.09 points, the S&P 500 index lost 7.04 points, or 0.56 per cent, to close at 1,244.50 points and the Nasdaq fell 8.48 points, or 0.24 per cent, to end at 2,121.47 points.

What to expect this week

Markets are likely to be volatile due to expiry of June deriviative contracts, US Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates, expectations from June quarter results and progress of monsoons. Rising crude prices and inflation could also imapct sentiments.

Stock to watch  

SHANTHI GEARS
Last week's close (Rs)	66.10
Prev. week's close (Rs)	60.43
Week's high (Rs)	68.00
Week's low (Rs)	56.58
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	1.44
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	0.50
Number of up/down move	4/1

On Wednesday, HDFC Mutual Fund upped its stake to 6.13 per cent in the stock of Shanti Gears by purchasing 5 lakh shares at Rs 61.5 each.

The Coimbatore based company, Shanthi Gears manufacturers gears for industries such as process, power steel, cement, sugar and aviation.

In FY06, the company sales have increased by 33.44 per cent at Rs 161.92 crore and the net profit has jumped up by 46.75 per cent to Rs 28.06 crore.

Stock of the week  

ANDHRA CEMENTS
Last week's close (Rs	36.35
Prev. week's close (Rs	23.10
Week's high (Rs	40.00
Week's low (Rs)	22.40
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	0.72
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	0.15
Number of up/down move	4/1

Andhra Cements shot up 57.36 per cent over the week to close at Rs 36.35 on reports that ICICI Bank has picked up a 6 per cent stake in the company for Rs 10 crore after putting in Rs 40 crore by way of debt.

J P Morgan had also invested Rs 73 crore by way of debt and equity in the company in March 2006. Andhra Cements has plants in Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes and sells its products under the brand 'Durga'.