Share prices turn steady

MUMBAI, AUG 4: After the previous session8217;s crash, pivotals generally showed a steady trend today on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE in the absence of speculative support. The started on a subdued note, but select scrips recovered slightly on short covering. The closing rates showed small changes. The volume of business remained thin.

The BSE sensitive index opened lower to 3107.04 but the sensex rose to 3144.06 before closing at 3119.54, showing a small gain of 6.59 points as against the previous close of 3112.95. The BSE-100 index remained nearly steady at 1379.05 over the previous close of 1378.19 improving nominally by 0.86 points.

Brokers said as it was the last session for the current settlement on the National Stock Exchange NSE most of business deals were squaring off in nature. FIIs bought marginal amount of ITC and MTNL shares and local institutions have made good purchases from both specified and non-specified counters. The continuous downfall in the Asian capital market and firing on line ofcontrol demoralised the sentiment of investors.