Sensex spark-less; Bajaj Auto up 2%, paper stocks shine

Indian Benchmarks continue to remain a victim of prevailing mood, which in turn remains lackluster in absence of a dominant trigger. Both FDI in retail debate in Parliament and Reserve Bank of India's impending open market operation has not lifted sentiment in any meaningful way. At 12.26 hrs IST, the Sensex was up 36.65 points or 0.19% at 19341.97, and the Nifty advanced 11.65 points or 0.20% to trade at 5882.60.

Top gainers on Sensex include Bajaj Auto, BHEL and Reliance Industries, registering an upmove of 2.15%, 1.84% and 1.78%. After a recent run-up, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) looks weak; it was trading 1.18% lower than its previous close. Among the banking stocks, SBI and ICICI Bank gained 1.5% and 1%, respectively.

Interestingly, all paper stocks have seen significant gains today following talks of US Based International Paper’s reported interest in West Coast Papers. Market talks suggest that the global paper giant is in negotiation to buy out majority stake of West Coast Papers’ promoters. The company, however, has denied any stake sale. While West Coast Papers surged 5%, Rama Newsprint rose 14.5% and AP Papers gained 3.2 %. The US based firm last year acquired AP Papers Mills.

Piramal Enterprises rose 0.7 % as the company’s subsidiary Decision Resources Group acquired Abacus International, a firm providing evidence-based global market access solutions for leading healthcare companies.