A Hat-Trick Of Decreases

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex finished lower for the third straight day today, but off the intraday low of 2,993.78, on the back of buying in select technology and public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks.

The sensex settled 15.95 points lower at 3,024.35. The market sentiment was dampened by Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgrade of India's local currency debt rating to 'junk'.

Meanwhile, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty index shed 6.45 points to close at 969.60.

Overall, losers pipped gainers on moderate volumes. "Since most stocks had already been battered mercilessly over the last couple of trading sessions, the fall after the S&P downgrade of the local currency rating was modest," a fund manager with a domestic mutual fund said.

ICICI Bank shed 4.12 per cent to Rs 139.80 on selling pressure following the downgrade of the rupee.

FMCG major Hindustan Lever tumbled 1.62 per cent to Rs 176 on fund-based selling, while. Reliance Industries settled 1.03 per cent lower to Rs 255.65.

Media major Zee Telefilms also lost 6.48 per cent to Rs 86.6 on sustained institutional selling pressure.

Meanwhile, PSU stocks bucked the weak trend. Refinery major Hindustan Petroleum advanced 3.95 per cent to Rs 193.45. The stock bounced back from the day's low of Rs 181.35 on bargain hunting at lower levels, after a recent fall from higher levels.

Analysts said growing opposition to asset sales in some PSUs was one reason for the downgrade, which would now force the government to re-focus on the privatisation programme.

PSU stocks such as Indian Oil (up 2.61 per cent to Rs 212.25), Bongaigaon Refinery (up 2.49 per cent to Rs 18.55), Bharat Petroleum (up 1.41 per cent to Rs 193.80) and Kochi Refineries (up 0.49 per cent to Rs 41.05) also attracted renewed buying.

Elsewhere, Shipping Corporation bounced back from a low of Rs 70.05 to Rs 75.60, before settling 1.90 per cent higher at Rs 75.10.

Technology stocks such HCL Technologies (up 2.44 per cent to Rs 210.15), Satyam Computer (up 0.31 per cent to Rs 225.40) and Infosys Technologies (up 0.46 per cent to Rs 3,509.95) ended higher, after recovering smartly from their initial lows on hopes of a strong opening on Nasdaq.