Infotech stocks down, Sensex falls 68 pts

BPCL was in keen demand ahead of the company8217;s board meeting to consider a bonus issue in next week.

In the specified group, 103 scrips including heavyweights like Infosys Tech, Satyam Computer, Zee Telefilms, TELCO, SBI, MTNL and NIIT registered sharp to moderate falls while 35 others showed gains.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex were quoted remarkably down at 458.90 and 165.41 compared with previous close of 467.61 and 168.44 respectively. The BSE-500 Index softened by 23.38 points to 1382.07 from yesterday8217;s close of 1405.93.

Himachal Futuristic remained the top traded counter with a turnover of Rs 934.08 crore of the total business volume of Rs 4,270.83 crore. Other most active shares were Global Tele Rs 513.51 crore, Zee Telefilms Rs 481.40 crore, Satyam Computer Rs 378.48 crore and Infosys Tech Rs 261.41 crore.

The market leader Himachal Futur improved further by 19.50 to 1482.25. Global Tele was down by 63.90 at 1352.50, Zee Tele by 28.90 at 440.40, Satyam Computer by 33.35 at 486.60, Infosys Tech by 278.05 at 7527.35, Dr Reddy by 13.10 at 1270.15, Nestle by 15.05 at 498.30, NIIT by 30.90 at 1518.05, Ranbaxy by 22.85 at 649.45, SBI by 1.65 at 192 and TELCO by 2.15 at 88.90.

BHEL firmed up by 2.95 to 119.90, GACL by 3.10 to 164.65, HLL by 1.40 to 232 and RIL by 1.15 to 347.50. umbai, sep 21 U N I the Indian rupee continued its firm trendagainst the us doll ar and closed further stronger by five paise at Rs. 46.19/21 on improved dollar supply and relatively lower demand at the interbank foreign exchange forex market today.

The rupee opened lower at Rs. 46.2500-3000, immediately ralliedupwards on heavy dollar sales by some foreign and nationalised banks on account of the reserve bank of India RBI8217;s instruction to banks on Wednesday to unwide the long dollar position. The Indian unit touched the intra day high of Rs. 46.12 around noon. However, due to some import dollar covering at that lower level, the unit surroundered parts of the initial gains later in the afternoon and closed at Rs. 46.19/21, five paise higher as compared to the previous day8217;s close of Rs. 46.24/26.

According to forex dealers, yesterday8217;s RBI instruction tobanks to unwind long dollar positions has boosted the dollar supply at least temperally. Further, importers were very cautious to cover their dollar position expecting further appreciation of the rupe, they said. However, the rupee8217;s stability is unilikely to continue as the soaring oil prices and bearish trend in capital market, may put severe pressure on the rupee, they added.

Mewnwhile, the RBI has fixed the reference rate for us dollar atRs. 46.20, as against the previous fix of Rs. 46.22 per us dollar.

Gold declines steeply Rs. 30 on weak HK advices

Mumbai, Sept 21 PTI Gold prices declined steeply by Rs.30 per ten gram on the bullion market here today due to sharp fall in Honk Kong prices.

Silver also fell sharply due to weak overseas advicescoupled with poor local demand.

In Hong Kong, the yellow metal nosedived to USD 269.50/270 per ounce from the previous close of USD 271/271.50 due to heavy selling after the Australian currency fell sharply, dealers said.

In the local market, standard gold resumed weak at Rs.4,500 and declined further sharply to close at Rs. 4,490, showing a fall of Rs. 30 over the previous close of Rs. 4,520. 22- carat gold fell by Rs. 25 to Rs. 4,155 from Rs. 4,180 and ten-tola gold bar .999 purity suffered a setback of Rs. 400 at Rs. 52,450 from yesterday8217;s close of Rs. 52,850.

Ready silver .999 fineness declined further by Rs. 35 toRs. 8,000 from the last close of Rs. 8,035. Raw silver .916 fineness dropped by Rs. 30 to Rs. 7,870 from the last close of Rs. 7,900 and tenderable silver fell to Rs. 8,005 from Rs. 8,040.