Sensex Choppy, Volumes Hit 4-Year Low Of Rs 500 Cr

Volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange dropped to their lowest level in four years today, to about Rs 500 crore, on the first day of the rolling regime.

The sensex was choppy, with a weak undertone. The BSE-30 sensex closed at 3426.83, down 54 points over its opening quote of 3480.06. In the course of the day, it had hit a high of 3487.08 and a low of 3418.28.

Institutional participation was subdued. While domestic institutions adopted a cautious approach, foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) activities were also restrained on account of a local holiday in Hong Kong.

Market focus today shifted to the mid-cap stocks. The volumes in the A group segment on the BSE, which have started trading in the rolling mode, declined by 65.21 per cent to Rs 384.49 crore.

The volumes in the B group segment, on the other hand, increased by 34.02 per cent to Rs 120.12 crore.

The markets had a few surprises in store. Brokers found that despite a uniform settlement cycle, arbitrage opportunities between BSE and NSE were amply available.

The NSE kicked off options trading in the permitted list of 31 stocks without any hitches while BSE brokers were agitated over the non-introduction of options trading on individual stocks.

A single deal of 14,07,517 shares of ACC at an erroneous price of Rs 1 per share caused a major flutter in the market. Dealers said such a deal could not have gone through trading in the earlier system, with the stock price filters.

Still, despite Sebi's stringent stipulations on