100 companies hit 52-week high

Mumbai: The shares of over 100 companies have managed to hit a fresh 52-week high on the domestic bourses even as the benchmark Sensex and Nifty are finding it difficult to cross their psychological milestones.

Some of the companies that are now trading at a new 52-week high have rallied on the back of better than expected quarterly numbers while couple of others have surged ahead of the announcement of their quarterly performance.  “While the quarterly numbers announced so far has remained largely mixed, the street has rewarded companies that have come out with better than expected numbers.

The quarterly numbers have also showed signs of revival in some pockets,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of fundamental research at Karvy Stock Broking.

Some of the companies that have rallied to their 52-week high after announcing their Q1 numbers include Biocon Ltd, Cairn India, Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL) and Havells India Ltd. MOFSL, which reported a 1,000 per cent jump in its net profits as compared to the same period last year, triggered a strong rally in the shares of companies with similar business models like Edelweiss Financial Services, IIFL Holdings Ltd and JM Financial Ltd.

However, the broader 50-share Nifty is still about 80 points away from its 52-week high of 8,621.55 while the 30-share Sensex need to rally another 614 points to scale above its 52-week high of 28,417.59.

Market experts pointed out that the disappointing numbers from leading IT companies had limited a major upside in the markets. Additionally, higher provisioning for bad loans reported by few banks has also triggered profit booking in frontline bank stocks dragging the markets lower.

According to them, the markets are expected to rally higher in the coming days, if the goods and services tax bill gets passed in the Rajya Sabha during the current session of the Parliament.