Contrary to expectations, the US Fed Reserve’s second major rate cut within a span of eight days did not impact the domestic stock market with the benchmark Sensex ending lower by 110 points, extending losses for the fourth consecutive day today. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed interest rates by another 50 basis points after a surprising 0.75 per cent sharp rate cut on January 22.Market observers said the US financial markets are still under considerable stress leading to fears about the health of the world’s largest economy. On the domestic front, marketmen said investors opting to square of their positions in the F&O segment also weighed down on the Sensex. The 30-share BSE barometer ended the day 109.93 points, or 0.62 per cent lower, at 17,648.71 points from its last close. The Sensex moved wildly between 18,008.71 and 17,417.63 points during the day, reflecting volatility. The market though found temporary respite for a brief time with Sensex rising by over 250 points in the afternoon trade after the announcement by the government that the economy grew by 9.6 per cent in 2006-07.However, the bears tightened their grip as the market technicals remained negative, said marketmen. Market participants said the market was highly volatile as investors opted to square off their positions in Futures & Options with the expiry of January series.They added foreign institutional investors wound up thier arbitrary positions in F&O while pulling out heavily from equity. The broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange, too, dipped by 30.15 points or 0.58 per cent to close at 5,137.45 from previous close of 5,167.60.Trading volume was low but relatively higher at Rs 5,184.80 crore from Rs 4,058.81 crore on Wednesday. RIL topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs 304.02 crore followed by RNRL (Rs 289.04 crore), REL (Rs 236.22 cr), RPL (Rs 223.54 cr) and Essar Oil (Rs 211.09 cr).The broad-based BSE-100 index declined further by 69.13 points to 9,440.94 from the previous close of 9,510.07. The BSE-200 index and the Dollex-200 were quoted lower at 2,230.39 and 942.67 at close compared to last close of 2,247.26 and 949.80 respectively. The BSE-500 Index dipped by 49.90 points to 7,160.03 from 7,209.93 and the Dollex-30 ended down at 3,678.30 from 3,701.21.
