FIIs pull down Sensex by another 124 pts

According to marketmen, leading FIIs reportedly pressed sales in software counters while the local institutional investors namely UTI, GIC and LIC continued their buying for the fifth consecutive day, but since their buying was limited it failed to arrest the fall in benchmark indices.

“The markets are desperately looking for a driver. The market is in a confusion zone and it badly requires a driver at the current level,” said a dealer with a domestic brokerage house.

According to market rumours, a Singapore government fund was selling heavily in the Infosys counter but picked up huge chunks in Satyam. Also Schroder and Capital International were rumoured to be active sellers in the infotech counters, pulling down the prices as there was hardly any active buying in these counters. MTNL was another leading stock which was hammered badly and closed 12 per cent lower on the NSE.

On the other hand, Asian markets were rattled by domestic factors on Friday, but ended the week mixed as late profit-taking helped some markets stave off a slide. Tokyo’s Nikkei slid to an 11-month low, hit by selling in high-tech and info-tech heavyweights on the back of further losses on Wall Street. But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng trod higher as investors sought bargains after heavy losses on Thursday.