Bulls lose steam, Sensex falls by 110 pts

Reflecting the bear onslaught, Sensex opened at 4666.47 and gradually moved downwards to the day’s low of 4539.35 before closing at 4562.38 as against yesterday’s close of 4671.92, showing a net loss of 109.54 points or 2.34 per cent. The BSE-100 index also dipped by 77.41 points to 2297.93 compared with the previous close of 2375.34.

FIIs were heavy sellers in Wipro, SSI Ltd, Aptech Ltd, Pentamedia, Zee Tele, Digital Equip, Himachal Futuristic and others. Several pharma shares also continued to reel under pressure. Burroughs Welcome, Cipla, Dr Reddy, German Remedies, E Merck, Glaxo, Nicholas Pir, Novartis, Ranbaxy, Rhone Poulenc, Sun Pharma and Wockhardt were the most to bear the brunt of large scale offloading. “There is no bullish factor to keep the market firm. The imminent petro price hike is scaring investors,” said a fund manager.

As many as 126 shares from the specified group recorded sharp to moderate losses while only 16 closed in positive terrain. Infosys Tech declined by 58.40 to 8507.90. Global Tele was down by 44.80 at 1587.90, Himachal Futuristic by 94.40 at 1621.10, Satyam Computer by 25.95 at 581.50, Zee Tele by 36.80 at 507.20, ACC by 4.95 at 108.95, BHEL by 5.20 to 131.35, BSES by 9.20 at 230.05, Dr Reddy by 37.45 at 1279.80, Glaxo by 9.95 at 462.15, ITC by 23.05 at 801.35 and MTNL by 5.10 at 133.

NIIT tumbled by 75.55 to 1590.65, Ranbaxy by 24.35 to 683, RIL by 12.50 to 364.90, SBI by 4.70 to 199.20, TELCO by 3.75 to 90.45, Wipro by 254.60 to 2928.25, SSI Ltd by 228.30 to 2700.75, Aptech by 42.45 to 550.45, Pentamedia by 34.55 to 459.65, Digital Equip by 33.75 to 489.60, Nicholas Pir by 18.70 and Cipla by 35.05 to 715.60.

“As expected, the market witnessed a sharp downward correction on Friday. The latest fall does not come as a major surprise, and the level of 4790 points will continue to serve as an important hurdle whenever the market makes an attempt to show a rally,” said a broker. As for the software sector, a large number of stocks have formed a lower top and the short-term position of these stock is far from impressive.

Rupee too falls

MUMBAI:The Indian currency also followed the stock market way and lost against the dollar. The rupee fell by 10 paise to 45.7750/7850 against the US dollar on Friday following heavy demand at the inter-bank forex market.

Opening the day at 45.6950/7050 from its overnight close of 45.6850/6950, the rupee went to an intra-day low of 45.7850/7950 on good corporate interest for dollars. "There was dollar buying by corporates and foreign banks. Trades were active," a dealer with a forex brokerage said, adding: "The dollar-buying interest saw the rupee slide by eight paise to 45.7550/7650 by mid-session trades.”

According to dealers, importers were covering their dollar requirements on fears of pressure on the rupee due to rising oil prices. "Dollar demand from corporates and importers exerted fresh severe pressure on the rupee while slowdown in dollar inflows further aggravated the rupee’s woes… rising global crude oil prices are also having also an adverse impact on the rupee," dealers said.