Bourses Take A Breather After Short Bull Run

After a frenzied bull run for four days, indices across the major bourses paused for a technical correction on the last trading day of the week.

Trading sentiment remained buoyant throughout the week mainly on speculative buying support. Key pivotals, barring Tisco, witnessed a flurry of activity during the week with ITC emerging as the biggest gainer. The BSE Sensex ended the week at 3836.44, a gain of 81.34 points over the previous week's close of 3755.10. The NSE-50 gained 31.85 over the previous week's close to end at 1082.75.

Marketmen said that foreign institutional investor (FII) buying was restricted to select large cap stocks during the week. Seizing the opportunity, speculators and operators jumped into the fray, thereby sparking off a rally.

 

The rally was mainly led by ITC and HLL scrips, which make a significant contribution to the Sensex. On the first trading day of the week, the ITC scrip flared up to Rs 478.50 on the BSE, up Rs 42 over the previous close. The scrip sustained its gains till the last trading day of the week and closed at Rs 485.50, an overall gain of Rs 49 over the previous week's close.

Leading brokers said that the rally lasted for four days despite sustained selling pressure from domestic institutions, notably UTI, which has its redemptions coming up.

In the specified group, the major gainers of the week were HLL and Castrol. Fera stocks shot into the limelight on announcement of the recommendations of the Tarapore Committee on capital convertibility. Colgate, Cadbury, Siemens and Nestle were some of the MNC stocks which moved up sharply.

Said a dealer at a FII broking house: The market will witness a slight downward trend in the coming week which is more of a technical correction. Domestic institutions will continue to be sellers and if there is lack of buying support, the Sensex could fall to 3700 levels next week.

NEW DELHI: The Tarapore Committee report on full convertibility of rupee, coupled with good corporate results and discounting of the CRB scam by operators helped the market continue its upward march at the Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) last week. The DSE Index (base 1983) moved up significantly by 27.80 points to settle at 804.35 against last week's close of 776.55.

The multi-crore CRB scam did not dampen sentiment in the market as it had already been discounted, marketmen said. Acquittal of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and former union minister KK Tiwari in the St Kitts case further boosted the market sentiment. Reports of