Pivotals suffer setback

MUMBAI, JULY 7: Pivotals suffered a moderate setback towards the fag end of the session at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on nervo...

MUMBAI, JULY 7: Pivotals suffered a moderate setback towards the fag end of the session at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on nervous selling by speculators on the reports that Muslim guerillas had rejected the Pakistani government’s appeal to withdraw from the Kargil sector.

Share prices had started better, pushing the Sensex to a new peak of 4373.02 but turned negative during the fag end due to sudden selling-spree by market players. Sensex opened at 4340.01 and moved between 4373.02 and 4306.49 before closing at 4321.51, showing a net loss of 11.19 points from the previous close of 4332.70. The BSE-100 index dropped marginally by 0.82 point to 1871.41 as against the previous close of 1872.23.

Brokers said cyclical stocks continued to rule the roost on sustained buying enquiries despite the negative sentiment. Initially the market showed a firm trend as operators were inclined to make fresh purchases in line with the buying support on the first day of the new account on the National Stock Exchange(NSE). However, the rally was cut short in the closing minutes of business on the rumours which took the market indices down amidst renewed selling by cautious operators.

Most of the cement counters were in keen demand and locked at the upper band of circuit filter on the news report that cement production had shot up by 23 per cent in June 1999 as compared to the same period last year. Larsen touched the day’s high of Rs 330.50 just below the 7-year high of 332.50 registered on August 16, 1994.

Of the 148 traded specified scrips, 74 declined while 70 advanced with 4 unchanged. SBI was the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 196.03 of the total volume of business of Rs 1942.51.