Sensex Dips 67 Points

The turbulence in global markets continued to weaken sentiment at major bourses as nervous players liquidated their positions ahead of the weekend. The BSE sensex closed at 2908.10, down 66.73 points from the previous close. The NSE-50 closed at 849.80, down 27.65 points over the previous close.

A one stage, the BSE sensex breached the crucial 2900 mark during intra day trading, slipping to 2899.16 before recovering.

FIIs continued to be net sellers to the tune of nearly Rs 31 crore on the BSE and NSE combined. Buying support from domestic institutions proved to be of little help. Stock prices of Dr Reddy's, Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma and Tata Tea took a beating because of these companies' exposure to Russian markets.Selling pressure in key index stocks like Reliance, MTNL and Larsen further dented the morale of players. On the BSE, the Reliance scrip lost Rs 5.70 to close at Rs 107.30 while the MTNL scrip shed Rs 9.60 to close at Rs 194.60. The ITC scrip was only star performer among key index stocks, posting a gain of Rs 7.25 on the BSE to close at Rs 623.25.

Speculators were compelled to liquidate some of their long posiions in the face of incessant selling pressure from foreign funds.

This apart,very few players were willing to carry forward their positions in view of the extremely volatile scenario in the global markets.

Even software socks were not spared yesterday with frontline socks like Satyam, Infosys and Pentafour Software taking a beating.

Markemen said that following the slide on Nasdaq, certain US based funds were booking profits at software counters. " The situation has become so uncertain that funds may have to review their outlook on the markets on a week-toweek basis," said a source at an FII brokerage.