Nifty, Sensex Singed By Global Meltdown

The repercussions of the turmoil in global markets were felt at all the major bourses last week with the NSE-50 index losing about 90 points in a single trading session .Most of the activity last week was centered at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) remaining open only for two days due to the Diwali holidays. "The impact of developments in the global stock markets affected the market sentiment during the traditional moorat trading session which remained lackluster last week", said a broker at the BSE.

The BSE Sensex ended the week at 3803.24, down by 154.22, out of which 131 points were shed on the day of moorat trading. The NSE-50 index closed at 1085.25, a loss of 51.40 points over its previous close of 1136.65.

 

According to market sources, heavy buying by domestic financial institution, particularly Unit Trust of India (UTI), in many key counters prevented the prices from crashing at the bourses under the onslaught of aggressive selling pressure from Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and speculators last week.

"FII sold heavily last week at the NSE mostly in ITC, Reliance and other heavy weight shares in order to pare some of their losses in other markets", said a dealer.

Among the shares that moved down at the BSE last week wa ITC, which was down by Rs25 to close at Rs 562, Larsen and Toubro, down by Rs 33 to close at Rs 188, Thermax, down by Rs 18 to close at Rs 254. Last week, Reliance became ex-bonus at the BSE, and closed at Rs 188, down by Rs 12 over its cum-bonus price of Rs 395 previous week.

The Hero Honda scrip remained relatively stable throughout the week, and gained Rs 22 over the week to close at Rs 922.

"The Indian stockmarkets will definitely react to happenings in the international markets, and prices are likely to remain volatile till December as foreign institutions will face redemption pressures during that particular period", said a broker at the BSE.

"Indices will move in a narrow range in the next two months since FIIs are unlikely to commit fresh investment in the country till January", said a research analyst with a leading FII.

NEW DELHI: Samvat year 2053 ended on a depressed note with share prices plunging on the stock market during the week ended October 30 due to panic selling by foreign funds and bull operators coupled with bear hammering and widespread losses.

Stock brokers said domestic financial institutions tried to avert a complete collapse and bought heavy-weighted stocks but could only manage to minimise the losses.

''This shows that domestic bourses are mainly depending on the overseas funds which is a risky sign for the local players,'' said Manoj Choraria of Choraria Securities (Pvt) Ltd.

Foreign funds were major sellers in multinationals shares and several fundamentally strong Indian companies which pushed down the sensitive index down very sharply.

After opening subdued, stock prices suffered the biggest slump on Tuesday, triggered by panic selling by overseas investors mainly attributed to the roller-coaster ride of world's bourses and stocks

The benchmark index, after opening lower at 820.27 points dipped to 753.59 points on Tuesday but recovered quickly to touch 806.72 points before closing at 797.40 points, a fall of 35.04 points or nearly 4 per cent over previous weeks close.

Among the prominent losers were Reliance Industries Ltd which ended at Rs 188.05, ex-bonus as against the pre-bonus close of Rs 396.50. The scrips of State Bank of India, after opening a shade lower at Rs 272.50 for want of support, recovered temporarily to Rs 278.40 on some short-covering. However, on all round selling by foreign funds and bear operators, it fell back to touch recent lows of Rs 247.40 before closing at Rs 263.45, still showing a fall of Rs 9.80. (PTI)

Among multinational company stocks, ITC was the target of heavy selling by foreign investors and bear operators, and prices tumbled to Rs 527 on Tuesday. However, late buying at lower levels, coupled with huge short covering, helped the scrip recover most of its losses to close at Rs 562.05 against the last close of Rs 588.90, a net of fall of Rs 26.15.

HLL, a stock having maximum weight on the index, plunged to Rs 1260 on persistent selling by nervous overseas investors, and ended at Rs 1290, a fall of Rs 93.

MTNLs stocks faced large-scale selling coupled with absence of necessary buying support, and prices reacted sharply to Rs 234 before finally closing at Rs 254.50, showing a fall of Rs 6.50.