The week that was: Graphite stocks mint money; 31 stocks@52-wk high

It was a positive week for the domestic equity market, as benchmarks Sensex and Nifty reclaimed psychologically important 35,500 and 10,800 levels, respectively. Overall, the bulls were in full control during the week gone by with key indices closing in the green in four out of five sessions.

The BSE Sensex gained 620.41 points, or 1.78 per cent, to 35,535 on May 11 from 34,915 on May 4, while NSE’s Nifty added 188.25 points, or 1.77 per cent, to close at 10,806 from 10,618. Global activities, as well as commentaries majorly, drove markets through the week.

"Although everyone is looking out for the outcome in the Karnataka elections, which might have an insignificant impact on the market, the real threat may emerge from the Iran-Israel conflict, which can escalate into a war-like situation after US’s withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal. High crude prices and a strong dollar are a bad omen for the bulls and, therefore, the market could remain under pressure,” said Jimeet Modi, Founder & CEO, SAMCO Securities.

Here is a look at the top stocks and sectors that created headlines during the week gone by:

Pain & gain in aviation
No-frills airline SpiceJet on Friday reported 5 per cent YoY growth in consolidated profit at Rs 40.5 crore for the quarter ended March 2018. The company had posted Rs 38.59 crore profit in the year-ago quarter. This was the 13th successive profitable quarter for the airline. However, its share price closed nearly 6 per cent down at Rs 118.80 for the week. InterGlobe Aviation and Jet Airways dipped 1.77 per cent and 6.44 per cent, respectively, for the week. Rising crude oil prices dented investor sentiment on the counter.

Graphite is minting money
Graphite electrode majors HEG and Graphite India reported multifold rise in bottom lines for the quarter ended March 2018. HEG on Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs 634.01 crore for the quarter ended March against a net loss of Rs 3.42 crore in the same period last year. Graphite India posted 632 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit at Rs 456.01 crore in Q4FY18 over Rs 60.91 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. HEG shares rallied nearly 10 per cent in five sessions, whereas Graphite India soared 3 per cent.

Restoring investor confidence
PC Jeweller (PCJ), once a darling of foreign investors on Dalal Street, has been on a rollercoaster ride on one or the other rumours, even since a company promoter gifted some shares to some undisclosed relatives. The stock jumped over 15 per cent to Rs 201.15 on May 11 from Rs 174.55 on May 4 after the board of the company approved buyback of shares worth Rs 424 crore. The stock had seen a steady plunge in recent weeks.

When in doubt, get out
Investors continued to remain bearish on Vakrangee amid concerns over irregularities. The share price of the company has plunged 22.45 per cent in last five sessions. Auditing major Price Waterhouse has quit the audit mandate of technology firm, flagging concerns to the corporate affairs ministry about the books of accounts, mainly related to its bullion and jewellery businesses. The company denied any irregularity. The company is also being probed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which had earlier probed some other entities that traded Vakrangee shares, over alleged disclosure and corporate governance lapses.

Hurtful earnings
Share price of Federal Bank tumbled over 10 per cent to Rs 90.05 on May 11 from Rs 100.15 on May 4. The private sector lender posted a dip of 43.5 per cent in standalone net profit at Rs 144.99 crore for the quarter ended March 31, on higher provisioning for bad loans. The bank had made a net profit of Rs 256.59 crore in the same period of 2016-17.

Another NBFC to list soon
The initial public offer of non-banking finance company Indostar Capital Finance was subscribed 6.80 times on the last day of bidding on Friday. The Rs 1,844 crore IPO received bids for 15,36,13,252 shares against the total issue size of 2,25,75,438 shares, data available with the NSE showed.

Midas touch fails to lift Karur
Shares of Karur Vysya Bank plunged nearly 4 per cent despite the shareholding data filed by the company on BSE showed that ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has increased stake in the bank to 3.36 per cent in January-March, from 3.09 per cent in the December quarter. The Big Bull scooped up 19,50,000 shares in the private bank in the March quarter.

Top cheetah of the week
As many as 32 stocks in the BSE500 soared over 5 per cent during the week gone by. PC Jeweller stood top gainer in the list, followed by Hexaware Technologies (up 14.11 per cent), FirstSource Solution (up 12.65 per cent), KRBL (up 11.83 per cent), PTC India (up 10.85 per cent), Welspun India (up 10.12 per cent), Mahindra Life (up 10.11 per cent) and ICICI Bank (up 9.97 per cent).

Not in the race
Nearly 15 per cent of the stocks in the BSE500 index tumbled between 5 and 23 per cent last week. Vakrangee tumbled over 22.45 per cent, followed by Idea Cellular (down 17.68 per cent), Rain Industries (down 12.62 per cent), Ajanta Pharma (down 11.60 per cent), Wockhardt (down 10.97 per cent), Reliance Communications (down 10.75 per cent) and Chambal Fertiliser (down 10.69 per cent).

Touching heights
Thirty one stocks in BSE500 index scaled their fresh 52-week high last week. The list included stocks such as Cyient, Asian Paints, Nestle India, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Indiabulls Ventures, Exide Industries, Godrej Properties, Jubilant Food and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Sectoral leaders of the week
Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the Oil & Gas index and Bankex climbed nearly 3.60 per cent. Metal, FMCG and PSU index gained 2.15 per cent, 1.32 per cent and 1.54 per cent, respectively.