Share Prices Fall A Tad On Heavy Selling Pressure

The Sensex showed only a marginal fall at 4083 on the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday in spite of selling pressure on the last day of current settlement as smart gains by index heavy weights like Reliance Industries, Telco and State Bank of India (SBI) prevented further losses in the index.

RIL, Telco, SBI, ITC and two public sector units Sail and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has highest percentage of contribution in the Sensex. While MTNL and Sail showed marked falls, others helped narrow down the losses in the Sensex.

Reliance remained in the limelight scoring further sharp gains on fresh buying by operators and foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Marketmen were expecting either a liberal bonus in the ratio of 1:1 or 3:5, while a leading analyst said a bonus ratio of one for two was more likely looking at the companys equity capital of Rs 450 crore which will swell to Rs 540 crore on conversion of euro debentures. BSE sensitive index started higher at 4101.67 and rose to the intra-day high of 4142.75 reflecting the early upsurge in the blue chip shares. However, squaring off by operators later brought it down to close at 4083.04 as against Thursdays close of 4088.98, showing a loss of 5.94 points. The BSE-100 index was fractionally down by 0.86 points at 1753.27 from previous closing of 1754.13. The BSE-200 and Dollex too gained marginally by 0.52 and 0.24, closing at 388.95 and 180.78 points respectively .

Sbi-new firmed up on announcement of a sharp rise in its net profits by 60 per cent at Rs 1329.30 crore in 1996-97. Brokers said Telco attracted brisk activity and recorded a smart rise on false rumours of a bonus news. SmithKline Consumer, Tata Chemicals and Atlas Copco were the other significant gainers in the specified section. SmithKline Consumer touched a 52-week high of Rs 410 before closing at Rs 404.