Pivotals fail to keep up initial tempo

MUMBAI, APR 20: After a better spell, pivotals failed to keep up their initial tempo and lost small ground at the end on the Bombay Stock...

MUMBAI, APR 20: After a better spell, pivotals failed to keep up their initial tempo and lost small ground at the end on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE today mainly on emergence of profit taking coupled lack of speculative support at the higher level. The Reserve Bank of India RBI8217;s credit policy failed to bring cheers to the sentiment as the market witnessed downward trend despite select shares registering gains.

The subdued trend at the end was also attributed to the squaring up business on the National Stock Exchange NSE which had the last day of the current settlement. The BSE sensitive index dropped from the inter-day high of 3479.21 to the 3406.67 but recovered partially to finish at 3443.99 with small loss of 7.44 points compared to yesterday8217;s close of 3451.43.The BSE-100 index, however, showed fractional gain at 1496.36 from previous close of 1495.92.

Operators had relied mainly on the slack season credit policy which was announced in the midst of trading session but lacked the anticipated features like reduction of interest rates and further economic reforms for the industry. The marked fall in the shares of Hindustan Lever, first quarter financial results of which was to be announced this evening, was the prime factor that contributed to the Sensex loss.

Barring Corporation Bank, the shares of the banking sector such as SBI, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda dropped immediately after the announcements of credit policy. Select shares mainly from pharma rose considerably on buying support from domestic and foreign institutional investors.

Pentafour Software remained the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 191.68 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1357.70 crore. Pentafour Software dipped by Rs 31 to Rs 1041, Satyam Computer by Rs 12.50 to Rs 1186.50, Hindustan Lever by Rs 55.50 to Rs 2169.50 and Telco by Rs 3.90 to Rs 144.40.However, Zee Telefilms spurted by Rs 74.50 to Rs 1008.50, Ranbaxy by Rs 24 to Rs 576 and Reliance by Rs 1.60 to Rs 131.20.

On the NSE equities showed mixed pattern of trading in lacklustre activity due to squaring up business on the last day of the current settlement. The Nifty closed at 993.90, netting a minor gain of 1.50 points.