Lack of buying support led to the market remaining depressed last week at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Overall, the market remained dull last week as their was no fresh buying from speculators and investors, said a broker at the BSE.
The Sensex closed at 3747.32, down 55.92 points over its previous weeks close of 3803.24.
Market sentiments was also affected due to government deferring the GDR issue of GAIL which was to take place last week, said an equity analyst at a dealer at the BSE.
Among the scrips that went up on the BSE last week was Tata Tea which was up by Rs 6 to close at Rs 384, Dr Reddys Laboratories, up by Rs 6 to close at Rs 336, and Hero Honda, up by Rs 40 to close at Rs 969.
Among the scrips that went down was Hindalco which was down by Rs 19 to close at Rs 931. The scrip went down despite the company reporting an increase in net profit for the first half by 13 per cent. Other scrips that moved downward was ITC, down by Rs 7 to close at Rs 561, Reliance Industries, down by Rs 10 to close at Rs 177.
Activity at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also remained lacklustre last week . The NSE-50 closed at 1074.80, down by 10.40 points over its previous week close of 1085.25.
According to market sources, domestic financial institutions, particularly Unit trust of India (UTI), were aggressive buyers in the market at lower levels last week while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to be the sellers.
Heavy selling by FIIs was mainly on account of redemption pressure due next month, and also on account of happenings in the international markets, said a fund manager with a leading FII.
The market is likely to move in the range of 3700 to 3850 for atleast the next one month since fresh buying is unlikely to take place till January, said an equity analyst with a leading broking house.
New Delhi: Hectic purchasing activity was witnessed in the automobile scrips even as panic selling by foreign funds and bull operators, coupled with bear hammering, in the wake of the withdrawal of Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL)'s global depository receipt (GDR) issue pushed down share prices further at the Delhi Stock Exchange during the last week.
Increasing volatility through the end of the week also took its toll on the market, and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded huge amounts of select blue chip scrips.
The benchmark DSE sensitive index (base 1983) slipped by 10.57 points during the week to close at 786.83 from the previous week's close of 797.40 points.
Domestic institutions, including the Unit Trust of India, purchased huge amounts of blue chip scrips, particularly automobile shares, and reversed the sentiment. FIs tried to avert a complete collapse and bought heavy weighted stocks but could only manage to minimise the loss, brokers said.
Though the market opened on a very subdued note on Monday on persistent bear hammering by speculators and domestic operators, prices jumped back the next day on emergence of hectic buying by domestic institutions, particularly the UTI. Shares of automobiles and multinational companies ended sharply higher mainly on speculative purchases by domestic FIs and speculators coupled with short covering.
The exchange suffered its biggest setback on Wednesday when the index dropped by 9.12 points at 790.29 on panic selling by overseas investors. Barring automobile stocks, most of the blue chips retreated to close lower on Wednesday
In a dull and featureless trading, shares closed on a mixed note on Thursday on scattered buying and selling by domestic financial institutions and speculators. There was no much change in the pattern of trading on Friday as stock prices ended on a slightly mixed note.
Among the prominent losers during the week were Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd which lost Rs 19.90 to close at Rs 234.60 followed by Bajaj Auto which slipped by Rs 15 to close at Rs 563.50. While IPCL shed Rs 13.65 at Rs 84.50, Reliance Industries was quoted at Rs 178.75, down Rs 9.90.
Other losers included Apollo Tyres, BSES, Escorts, Essar Shipping, Essar Steel, ICICI, IFCI, L&T, Nestle India, OBC, Siel, SBI, SAIL and Tisco.
Hindustan Lever Ltd was the most prominent gainer in the specified category, shooting up by Rs 37 to close the week at Rs 1327.
While Hero Honda spurted by Rs 27.20 to close at Rs 946.20, Telco gained Rs 16.80 to close at Rs 336.50.
Other gainers were ACC, Asian Hotels, ITC, LML and Spic.
