Bull Dumping, Profit-Taking Take Toll On Pivotals

The Sensex dropped by another 46 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday on heavy bull unloading and profit-booking. The Sensex had dropped by over 107 points in the early session following selling spree in almost all the scrips due to stalemate in political developments, even though it was the first trading day for the current account on the NSE.

The marketmen have welcomed the factor that the BJP would form the next government but players are not looking forward to increase their commitments till BJP wins the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. The long weekend holidays with today being the last day of trading for the current account at the BSE, also weighed on the sentiment.

The FIIs were cautious and kept sidelined. ITC, RIL and Tisco recovered from their lows towards the fag end of the session on fresh purchases from Calcutta operators. Practically, all other counters witnessed selling pressure on profit booking.

Reflecting the trend, the BSE sensitive index opened slightly lower at 3,791.11, dipped to a low of 3,691.20 and recovered partly to close at 3752.09, a loss of 46.16 points from the previous close of 3,798.25, the broad based BSE-100 closed at 1,619.80, with a loss of 19.98 points from the last close of 1,639.78. The BSE-200 ended lower at 357.77 and the Dollex at 150.68 from the previous close of 362.01 and 152.62, respectively.

The total turnover on the BOLT system increased to Rs 1,290.98 crore. ITC led the turnover list with Rs 389.18 crore. RIL followed with Rs 205.68 crore, Tata Tea with Rs 137.15 crore, SBI with Rs 98.87 crore and Castrol with Rs 57.13 crore.

ITC rallied to close with a gain of 4.25 at Rs 735.25. RIL dropped by 4.70 to Rs 173.30, Tata Tea by 13.75 to Rs 420.25, SBI by 5.50 to Rs 275.50 and Castrol by 10.75 to Rs 704.