JULY 11: Old economy shares hogged the limelight pushing infotech to the background on Indian markets on Tuesday. The benchmark Sensex recovered most of the overnight losses and closed up by 30.64 points at 4898.07 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today following selective buying, mostly in index-based old-economy shares.A sharp to moderate rise in select old-economy shares like BHEL, HPCL, ITC, L&T, MTNL, RIL, SBI, TELCO and TISCO mostly aided the Sensex upsurge. FIIs purchased shares of cyclical companies like Reliance, ITC and TISCO while they pressed sales in select software counters. Infotech stocks were hammered mercilessly by investors.However, good first quarter working results announced early morning by software bellwether, Infosys Tech, initially perked up the sentiment but later relinquished gains on heavy selling by FIIs and domestic funds. Operators said that around 100 to 110 per cent net profit by Infosys was expected and already discounted by the market participants. So they offloaded their holdings to book profits. The company announced a jump of 100.1 per cent in the net profit for the first quarter ending June 30 this year over the corresponding period last year.The BSE Sensex opened firm at 4887.76 and moved in a restricted range of 4919.31 and 4863.96 before closing at 4898.07 as against yesterday's close of 4867.43.Refinery shares were in limelight on local funds buying. Satyam Computer firmed up by Rs 11.25 to Rs 3150.35, Zee Teleby Rs 6.90 to Rs 451.75, BHEL by Rs 3.20 to Rs 152, HPCL by Rs 9.15 to Rs 133.95, L&T by Rs 3.10 to Rs 271.85, MTNL by Rs 5.10 to Rs 210.25, SBI by Rs 3.30 to Rs 230.20, TELCO by Rs 2.30 to Rs 133.85 and TISCO by Rs 4.25 to Rs 138.75.Dealers say now that the results from Infosys and Satyam are out, there are no drivers for the market. ``And old economy stocks alone cannot hold the Sensex in the positive territory for long,'' said a dealer with a domestic broking house. ``We are looking at a Sensex level of 4500 over the next few days,'' added the dealer.But the rally that started in the Reliance and ITC counters last week continued on Tuesday too. On the BSE, the Reliance scrip closed at Rs 374.45, a gain of Rs 6.25 over its previous close. During the day, it had touched a peak of Rs 375.9. ITC, on the other hand, gained Rs 15.30 to Rs 851.65.While the Sensex remained firm on account of a sustained buying in pivotals, stocks from the software sector remained under pressure. A large number of stocks showed a negative close. Wipro showed a sharp fall. Pentamedia, DSQ Soft, and Digital Equipment also showed a substantial decline.
