Equities Lose Ground Despite Fii Buying

Bearish sentiment prevailed at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday despite foreign institutional investors (FIIs) making small purchases in select B1 counters.

The domestic institutions were offloading part of their positions in the side counters. The Sensex ended the day at 3768.30, down 10.01 points over the previous close of 3778.31. The index opened at 3780.54, touched an intra day high of 3788.92 and a low of 3755.21, before edging up to 3768.30 at close.

The ITC scrip's bull run lost steam yesterday with the scrip closing at Rs 439.50, down Rs 9 over the previous close. Marketmen said speculators had an indication that the results would fall short of market expectations. Heavy offloading towards the latter half of the trading session saw the ITC scrip losing ground rapidly. The scrip plunged further in late evening kerb deals to Rs 436.

 

Bajaj Auto came under severe selling pressure with the scrip losing Rs 18.75 over the previous close to end the day at Rs 845.25. Among key pivotals, Reliance closed at Rs Rs 296 (down Rs 1.25), SBI closed at Rs 311.75 (+ Rs 0.75) while Tisco closed at Rs 178.75 (-75 paise).

The major loser in the A group was Lakme with the scrip closing at Rs 376, down Rs 21 over the previous close of Rs 397.

In the B1 group, HDFC Bank's excellent results saw the scrip moving up to an intra-day high of Rs 62.50. However, the scrip could not sustain its initial gains and fell to Rs 60.50 at close, a gain of Rs 1.25 over the previous close.

The Cipla scrip moved up to Rs 762.25, a gain of Rs 43 over the previous close, in anticipation of improved results. The market expects the scrip to flare up today on hectic short-covering.