MUMBAI, MAR 21: The presence of US president Bill Clinton in India failed to revive the sagging Indian stock markets on Tuesday. Stock markets - which re-opened after a four-day long holiday - pared early gains to end marginally higher on as investors searched for direction in thin but volatile trade. Concerns over the overvaluation of information technology shares and fiscal year-end redemption pressures forced many large investors into the sidelines resulting in low volumes. Sensex which zoomed by 128 points in the opening session later met with selling pressure and closed with a gain of only 30.83 points at 5133.24. The 50-scrip S&P Cnx Nifty index at the NSE closed lower by 3.00 points at 1559.20 from the previous close of 1562.20. ``There was a talk that the market will pick up when Clinton comes to India. It has not happened. Sensex has lost over 770 points after the Union budget on February 29,'' said a broker. BSE data for Tuesday showed declines beat advances 954 to 652 with 122 unchanged while traded volume was 55.79 million shares compared to about 80 million in the middle of last week. "The market is quite confused as investors don't perceive a clear trend going forward. There is concern that infotech stocks are overvalued and also some disappointment that the economy may not do so well in the coming months as the budget has been quite harsh to many companies," said a dealer. Soothing talk by visiting US President Bill Clinton on Indo-US relations, stock-split announcement by software favourite Satyam Computer Services and an upgradation to the country's outlook by global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's did not improve sentiment much, dealers said. They said the market is also keeping a wary eye on Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee (FOMC) to discuss a hike in US interest rates. Though a rate hike will not impact directly, a big sell-off in American and regional markets could spoil sentiment, they added. "Big funds are waiting to sell at every rise to book profits and are unwilling to take a long-term exposure," said a dealer at a local brokerage. Many funds are also booking profits ahead of the fiscal year end on March 31, 2000. "There is a concern that technology stocks may be overvalued. Fund managers are saying that people should reduce their exposure to the sector," fund managers said. Many infotech shares lost ground, but Infosys gained on buying after last week's losses. Shares of diversified firm Wipro Ltd fell 6.24 per cent to Rs 4,314.10 while Satyam Computer closed 6.93 per cent down at Rs 4,838. Stocks which moved into the T+5 rolling settlement from Tuesday gave a mixed performance. Aftek Infosys rose 0.8 per cent to Rs 3,650 and Archies Greetings 2.2 per cent to Rs 370 but PentaSoft Technologies fell 2.7 per cent to Rs 619.50 and Kotak Mahindra Finance 4.5 per cent to Rs 126. More stocks will move into this settlement cycle later, where settlements are made on the fifth working day after the trade. Leading eight percent gainers include long-distance telecom carrier and Internet service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd at Rs 2,391.65, computer education firm SSI Ltd at Rs 6,030.20, pharma firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories at Rs 1,537.10 and HCL Infosystems Ltd at Rs 623.15. Global Tele-Systems Ltd fell 3.9 per cent to Rs 2,369, two-wheeler maker Hero Honda Motors rose five per cent to Rs 935 and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd fell 7.99 per cent to Rs 253.95.
