Sensex drops 25 points

MUMBAI, September 11: Share prices declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE on Friday due to emergence of profit-taking as operators squared up their outstanding position at the end of account settlements. Sensex dropped by 25 points even as the closing rates showed small and widespread losses.The BSE Sensitive index moved in a range of 3092.94 and 3061.39 before closing at 3083.56 with a net loss of 25.11 points compared to the previous level of 3108.67. The BSE-100 dropped by 13.86 points to 1365.10 from the previous close of 1378.96.

Brokers said the sentiment was affected due to drop in stocks on Wall Street and UK impacting the South-east Asian markets and a sharp setback in almost all the major currencies, particularly the Japanese yen.

Foreign funds, mainly US-based ones, were seen offloading their positions following the threat of impeachment of President Bill Clinton in the White House sex scandal which also dampened the global market sentiments.

Domestic financial institutions, however,made modest purchases in select shares like BHEL, MTNL, Satyam Computer, Infosys Technologies and others. Satyam Computers remained the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 164.66 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1055.60 crore. Satyam lost by Rs 12.50 to Rs 474.75, ITC by Rs 4.25 at Rs 670, Reliance by Rs 1.40 at Rs 117.50, SBI by Rs 3.90 at Rs 198.50, Tisco by Rs 2.25 at Rs 91.20, Zee Telefilms by Rs 3.25 at Rs 603 and Pentafour Software by Rs 23.75 at Rs 587.25 on selling pressure.