Cement Counters Lose Ground

Equities surrendered initial gains on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today, as domestic and foreign institutional investors sold at higher levels.

Recording its third straight fall, the BSE sensex settled 11.84 points down at 2,975.81, its lowest level in nine months.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty index shed 1.20 points to close at 957.70. Gainers pipped losers on brisk volumes.

Most economy related stocks lost ground on concerns that the prolonged delay in monsoon would put a cap on their growth.

"There are worries that the drought will impact demand in the FMCG, two-wheelers, and cement sectors," a Mumbai-based broker said.

FMCG major Hindustan Lever slipped to new 52-week low. The stock declined by 1.67 per cent to close at Rs 167.75.

Two-wheeler major, Hero Honda too settled 1.89 per cent lower at Rs 262.10, off the day's high of Rs 279.50 on selling pressure.

Key cements stocks such as ACC (down 1.62 per cent to Rs 130.85), L&T (down 0.79 per cent to Rs 157.25), Gujarat Ambuja Cements (down 0.71 per cent to Rs 168.65) and Grasim (down 0.11 per cent to Rs 309.80) lost ground on sustained selling pressure.

Meanwhile, Dr Reddy's Laboratories bucked the weak trend. The stock advanced 3.34 per cent to Rs 880.95 on renewed buying, after the company posted impressive results.

ICICI Bank also advanced 3.06 per cent to Rs 145.05 on fresh buying support, after impressive Q1 results.

Bajaj Auto gained 0.50 per cent at Rs 423, off the day's high of Rs 433 on selling pressure, even after the company said its motorcycle sales in July 2002 increased by 20.2 per cent from a year earlier.

Elsewhere, technology stocks fell on concerns over the worsening economic outlook for the United States, the biggest buyer of Indian software.

Infotech major HCL Technologies (up 1.60 per cent to Rs 190.70) and Infosys Technologies (up 0.49 per cent to Rs 3,057.15) settled in positive territory on selective buying.

Other frontline tech stocks such as Hughes Software (down 8.46 per cent to Rs 129.85), SSI (down 2.35 per cent to Rs 112), Digital GlobalSoft (down 1.52 per cent to Rs 560.90), Wipro (down 1.23 per cent to Rs 1,129.25) and NIIT (down 1.40 per cent to Rs 137.35) lost ground on selling pressure.

Derivatives sag: The derivatives markets wilted under selling pressure in old economy stocks in the cash market, which end lower.

The National Stock Exchange Nifty futures spun down but still managed to close at a premium to the underlying shares.