Sensex plummets by 90 points

Brokers said the market witnessed a weak trend, but some shares, mainly from the telecom, IT and FMCG, posted handsome gains. Pivotals like NIIT, Digital, SSI, Sonata Software, Wipro, HFCL, Satyam, Indian Shaving and Colgate gained smartly while others like ITC, TELCO and Bajaj Auto lost ground on selling pressure. The profit-taking was also due to selling pressure by domestic financial institutions in cyclical stocks while foreigninstitutional investors made purchases in select IT stocks.

The selling pressure was also due to announcement of disappointing results by automobile major TELCO and tobacco giant ITC and lower than expected results by Tata Tea. The total turnover on BSE was Rs 3828.28 crore. Satyam Computer topped the list of turnover by registering highest turnover of Rs 399.55 crore followed by Zee Telefilm Rs 383.66 crore and HFCL Rs 357.20 crore.

Meanwhile on the NSE, equities continued to decline following heavy selling pressure from local institutions and mutual funds. However, the shares of private banks and power sectors were in keen demand on speculative buying. The Samp;P CNX Nifty index declined sharply by 27.20 points to end at 1586.40 as against the last close of 1613.60.