MUMBAI, JULY 26: Barring software sector, equities drifted further downwards on the opening day of the new account on the stock market here today in the wake of selling pressure from operators and Indian financial institutions (IFIs) as well as lack of support from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).Majority of cyclical stocks weakened further as higher levels continued to attract players to book profit as IFIs and domestic mutual funds pressed fresh sales in key scrips like Grasim, Indian Rayon, Voltas, BHEL, Telco, Tisco, SBI, RIL and some others.Operators had anticipated the technical correction with broad side-ways movements in view of increasing badla rates that was fixed to about 22 to 24 per cent per annum at the turn of account, indicating rise in outstanding positions.FIIs exceptionally made purchases in software scrips and were reportedly net buyers in digital equipments, Infosys Technologies, NIIT, Pentafour Software and Satyam Computer besides select multinational scrips likeBritannia, Nestle, Cadbury and Zee Telefilms.The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened marginally up at 4686.70 but later fell sharply to a low of 4592.67 before closing at 4625.40 as against last Friday's close of 4672.12, netting a fall of 46.72 points or one per cent. The BSE-100 index eased by 7.98 points to 2017.53 from previous close of 2025.51.Dealers attributed partial recovery at the fag end to announcement of encouraging second quarter results by HLL, net profit of which showed a growth of 24.9 per cent. Dealers expected a turnaround at support level of 4580 which is just 45 points away from today's closing level of the Sensex.Specified scrips like Pfizer, Grasim, Crompton GR, Century Textile, Philips, Indian Rayon, ITC Bhadra, Ballarpur, and Garware Wall were stuck at the lower circuit breaker while Cummins India, Digital Equipment, Hind Leverchem, Nestle, Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, Escorts and Bombay Dyeing hit the upper price band.Meanwhile on the NSE, share prices continued to falldue to increased selling pressure from domestic funds and poor response from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The market opened on a depressed note and share prices declined further during the day and ended with increased losses over the previous close.The market trend was reflected in the index as S&P CNX Nifty resumed weak at 1342.60 and declined further steeply to end at 1326.15, showing a fall of 16.80 over the last close of 1342.95.
