Volatile market, HLL wrests market cap lead
Mumbai: The markets witnessed high price volatility with very low volumes, which led to several stocks, especially infotech stocks, suffering heavy losses. On a day that was marked by a comeback by Hindustan Lever, and a renewed interest in Reliance Industries, most information technology stocks took a beating as foreign funds as well as many retail investors unloaded substantial volumes of their holdings in these stocks.

Hindustan Lever wrested the No 1 position in terms of market capitalisation (Rs 60,997 crore at the end of trading on 13 January) from Wipro (Rs 56,589 crore). Its shares were picked in large volumes by US-based funds, which led to the price reaching Rs 2,778. Reliance gained by Rs five to close at Rs 308. Against this, Infotech stocks, including leader Infosys Technologies, Silverline Industries, Pentafour Sof5ware, Aftek Infosys, Polaris Software, Mastek and Orient Information Technology suffered heavily. 

The Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange shed 46.38 points to close at 5445. Market watchers said the fall would have been sharper but for the show from Hindustan Lever and Reliance. Hindustan Lever has a 20 per cent weightage on the Sensex. The S&P CNX Nifty closed at 1621.40, down by 3.40 points.
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Another 25 for Z group
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange has announced a list of 25 more companies that will be shifted to the Z group. These companies have not complied with the various listing norms of the exchange.
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FIs pick up stake in Shyam Telecom
Mumbai: Financial institutions, including SBI Mutual Fund, Oppenheimer and Alliance DLJ, have bought 50 lakh shares, constituting more than 15 per cent of the equity in telecom equipment maker Shyam Telecom, through the private placement route. The price of the share ruled at Rs 160 per share. With this fresh allotment, the paid-up capital of the company has gone up to Rs 32.2 crore. The company intends to use the funds to pay off part of its high cost debts.
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Merrill to exit farm, metal futures
Chicago: Merrill Lynch is exiting its agricultural and metals futures businesses. Instead, it will refocus on futures markets of financial products. The brokerage firm said its futures operations in grains, metals and soft commodities such as coffee, sugar and cocoa do not constitute its core operations.  The financial and energy futures operations will remain intact. The proposed restructuring is likely to lead to loss of employment or lay-off of about 150 people who are now involved in trading in these sectors.
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