Equities Decline Following Heavy Selling Pressure

Heavy squaring up of positions on the last day of the settlement cycle on the BSE saw equities losing ground yesterday.

The Sensex closed at 3836.44, down 37.41 points over the previous close of 3873.85.

Marketmen said that the market was unable to absorb the selling pressure from domestic institutions in the absence of strong buying support.

The sensex opened at 3875.13, touched an intra-day high of Rs 3878.99, fell to a low of 3830.98 before edging up to close at 3836.44. The bourse recorded a turnover of Rs 605.68 crore for the day .

MTNL and ACC were the major casualties of the day. While MTNL lost Rs 9.50 to close at Rs 272.25, ACC slipped by Rs 55.50 to close at Rs 1122.50.

 

Among the key pivotals, Reliance fell by Rs 4.50 to close at Rs 306.50 while SBI lost Rs 6.25 to close at Rs 313.50.

Marketmen attributed the fall in prices of these stocks due to unwinding of long positions by operators.

A notable gainer in the specified group was ICICI which gained Rs 4.75 to close at Rs 75.50.

Other gainers in the same group were Spic which was frozen at the higher end of the circuit filter at Rs 18.75( +Rs 1.50), and Lakme at Rs 403.75, up Rs 24.75 over the previous close.

In the B1 group, Asian Hotels hogged the limelight. The scrip gained Rs 20 over the previous close to end the day at Rs 223.

Marketmen said that there were high expectations from the companys results which are due to be announced on Monday.

The scrip has witnessed a sharp spurt in trading

volumes over the past two days with an off-market transaction of 50,000 shares the day before.