MUMBAI, May 25: Pivotals showed a mixed trend on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today in lacklustre trade. A few scrips attracted speculative buying on the first day of the account, ignoring developments like the falling rupee and an India outlook change by Standard & Poor's. The closing rates showed small widespread gains. The volume of business remained below normal. The closing undertone appeared steady.The BSE sensitive index moved in the range between 3934.00 and 3878.04 before finishing at 3908.11 with a small gain of 11.01 points compared to the previous level of 3897.10. The BSE-100 index gained 4.19 points to 1729.44 from the previous level of 1725.25. Brokers said that the activity, which was expected to be brisk on the opening day of the account in view of lower badla rates of around 21 per cent per annum was at a low ebb. This was mainly due to finance minister Yashwant Sinha's reported hints at a tough budget The sentiment was also affected by the international rating agency, Standard &Poor's decision to revise the outlook on India's sovereign rating from stable to negative and the rupee's plunge to an all-time low of 41.20.On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), pivotals moved in a narrow range and drifted lower at the close. The NSE-50 index declined by 3.60 points to 1122.95 against the previous close of 1126.55. However, the Midcap index firmed up by 13.30 points to 1653.65 against the previous close of 1640.35. The total turnover was Rs 1,569.54 crore. 114 securities hit their price bands. 477 scrips improved, 549 declined while 98 remained unchanged.
