Sensex dips 112 pts as buyers keep away

Bears are back on the street after many days. Buyers kept away paving the way for the re-entry of sellers on Dalal Street, sending the bench...

Bears are back on the street after many days. Buyers kept away paving the way for the re-entry of sellers on Dalal Street, sending the benchmark Sensex plunging by 112 points.

There were no positive triggers for another rise in index. Foreign funds and local institutions also failed to prop up the market. The fancied index wallowed in the red all through the day, and ended with a loss of 111.93 points, or 2.26 pc, at 4,832.71. It shed 19.11 points on Thursday and lost 56.29 points for the week.

Despite recent gains, the Sensex continues to face strong resistance around the 5000-level. The NSE S & P CNX Nifty index lost 36.30 points, or 2.35 pc, to end at 1,508.45.

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It was not as if the market was entirely without happening news. Tech pivotals got a beating on fears that institutions may offload these stock from their portfolio in favour of the TCS IPO. Banking stocks also figured among the losers.

The overall mood in the market appeared bearish amid uncertainty over the government’s economic policies. “Volumes on the bourses have declined sharply, indicating reduced participation by investors amid the uncertainty. The government may hike petroleum prices. This will push up inflation,” said BSE dealer RA Podar.

Market players are now awaiting the budget, which will be the next trigger for stocks. They feel that the budget will give a clearer picture of how the government plans to achieve its growth target while maintaining delicate fiscal balances. Finance minister P. Chidambaram announced on Monday that he will present the budget after July 2, 2004.

Tata group stocks were in the limelight after TCS filed a draft prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise around Rs 6,000 crore.

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Maruti Udyog (down 5.62 pc to Rs 388.75) slumped off its day’s high of Rs 413.90. Telecom services major Bharti Tele-Ventures (down 5.50 pc to Rs 141.80) plunged after recent gains. Private sector banking pivotals HDFC Bank (down 4.90 pc to Rs 359.95) and ICICI Bank (down 2.81 pc to Rs 259.65) made significant losses as well.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries (down 3.55 pc to Rs 431.70), State Bank of India (down 2.47 pc to Rs 468.25) and Hindustan Lever (down 0.62 pc to Rs 129) were all factors that contributed in the Sensex’s decline.

Tata group pivotals Tata Power Co (down 3.43 pc to Rs 230.90), Tata Motors (down 2.96 pc to Rs 393.45) and Tata Steel (down 2.93 pc to Rs 289.95) were hard hit in the course of the day after early gains. The Tata group pivotals traded higher for most part of the session after the Tata group tech major TCS filed papers for mega IPO.

Tech pivotals Infosys Tech (down 3.08 pc to Rs 5,108.25), Wipro (down 2.87 pc to Rs 1,479.50) and Satyam Computer (down 2.78 pc to Rs 300.90) were dumped on fears that investors may sell shares of listed tech stocks to acquire shares of TCS when the latter’s IPO is out.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, unaffected by tariff row, hal unaffected by tariff row, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk 1A, D K Sunil, Indian express news, current affairs

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