Pivotals Make Small Gains On Buying By Institutions

Hectic buying by domestic institutional investors particularly the Unit Trust of India (UTI) prevented the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from crashing yesterday. The BSE-30 Sensex opened at 3,966.87, went up to 4,016.21, but fell on heavy selling to close at 3,965.39, up 15.36 points over its previous days close of 3,950.03. The BSE-100 gained 6.58 points at 1728.99 points.

Except for the major pivotals, overall the stock market remained depressed. Not much activity was noticed in B1 and B2 counters, said a BSE dealer. The hike in petroleum price continued to cast a shadow on the market. Although the price hike is less than expected it will have a cascading effect on the economy affecting the performances of many companies, said an equity analyst.

FIIs continued to sell in the market. Fresh FII buying was limited to only selected stocks. Though the FIIs are bullish on India any major fresh investment in the stock market is unlikely immediately until the rupee depreciates, said an analyst with a leading FIIs.

The scrips that saw hectic trading were : MTNL up by Rs 8 to close to at Rs 258.50, Sesa Goa gained Rs 7 at Rs 188.2. Glaxo went up Rs 19 at Rs 424.50. Gujarat Ambuja Cement up by Rs 8 at Rs 322. Indian Hotel went up Rs 9 as Ratan Tata took over the chairmanship of the company from Ajit Kerkar yesterday.

Meanwhile, the BSE-200 closed higher at 387.37 and the Dollex at 176.69 from their last close of 385.82 and 176.13 respectively. The total turnover on the Bolt system was Rs 1,000.66 crore. ITC was in the forefront with a turnover of Rs 250.07 crore, followed by RIL (Rs 211.63 crore), SBI-new (Rs 183.58 crore), Tata Tea (Rs 51.59 crore) and HDFC (Rs 29.49 crore). The cash section displayed mixed activity in narrow movements.