Sensex dips by 98 points

On the National Stock Exchange NSE, share prices fell sharply on the first day of the current settlement due to profit selling coupled with bull liquidation and the Nifty dropped by 21 points. Pivotals resumed strong, but turned weak towards the end of the trading session and a large number of scrips closed with losses. The Samp;P CNX Nifty resumed higher at 1215.95 and fell to end at 1193.15, showing a sharp fall of 21.15 over the last close of 1214.30.

Brokers said the market witnessed a sudden downward reaction following heavy selling from FIIs and FIs who reportedly pressed all-round sales in index based stocks. Marketmen said institutional investors were likely to book profits before they announce quarterly results early next month.

A section of brokers, however, attributed the resistance to reports that India had so far shown commendable restraint but may be tempted to send troops to the Pakistani territory. FIIs, however, made selective purchases in some scrips like Ranbaxy, Indogulf Corp, Satyam Computer and NIIT.

The market now expects the market to go down to the 4100-level which will set the stage for a major bull-run. The fall on Wednesday took a heavy toll on the cyclicals, which had gained substantially in the past few weeks. While profit booking emerged in economy-related stocks, majority of the software and the pharma stocks continued to hold to their Tuesday levels. Some stocks from the defensive sectors also managed to move up marginally. The two refinery stocks, BPCL and HPCL, also remained firm on a day of heavy sealing.

Ranbaxy was the star performer of the day with the scrip gaining around Rs 100 to close at Rs 678 with 40.58 lakh shares being traded on BSE. Apart from the positive effects of the price hike by NPPA, the company is reportedly in the last stages of putting in place a distribution network which will boost its bottomline. Pfizer, however, was down due to the negative impact of the NPPA price revision would hit the company8217;s bottomline. The stock closed at Rs 1115 against its Tuesday close of Rs 1180.

Among software counters, buying continued in NIIT for the third day in succession. The scrip closed at Rs 1964 against its Tuesday close of Rs 1895. However, Satyam closed marginally higher at Rs 1227 against Rs 1220 on Tuesday and Infosys was marginally lower at Rs 3407 against its previous close of Rs 3470.

The cyclicals witnessed heavy offloading by operators and institutions alike. Lamp;T, on the back of a heavy offloading by one of the leading foreign broking outfit, lost Rs 10 during the day and closed at Rs 292.50. Reliance, ACC, Hindalco, Telco, Ashok Leyland and other cyclicals also came under heavy selling pressure by market players. Index heavyweight HLL recorded a new all-time high at Rs 2438.90 during the day but the scrip closed lower at Rs 2351. Banking major, SBI also lost Rs 19.20 to close at Rs 243.30 against its Tuesday close of Rs 262.50.

Of the 149 specified scrips, 105 showed sharp to moderate losses and 41 posted gains while three held steady. Ranbaxy Lab was the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 266.52 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1905.51 crore lower than Rs 2254.75 crore posted yesterday. However, Larsen dipped by Rs 9.50 to Rs 292.50, Reliance by Rs 6.55 to Rs 180.85, Telco by Rs 13.60 to Rs 205.50 and Tisco by Rs 7.50 to Rs 140 on selling pressure.

Rupee falls against dollar

MUMBAI: The rupee weakened considerably against the US currency on heavy corporate dollar demand, but ended off intraday lows in fairly active but choppy trade at the interbank foreign exchange forex market here today. Opening lower around 43.20/22 per dollar, the rupee dipped to an intraday low of 43.27/29 due to a rush to cover dollar positions by banks and corporates owing to heightened Indo-Pak border tensions and later closed at 43.25/26, showing a sharp fall of over 5 paise from the Tuesday8217;s closing level of 43.20.