Scrips Down In Sluggish Trades

The trading on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday remained sluggish for the second day running.

Being the first day of the current settlement, the market opened firm with the NSE-50 index at 964.24. It touched a high of 971.75 and dipped to a low of 956 before closing at 958.90, a loss of 4.80 points over the previous close of 963.70.

The trading turnover dipped to Rs 9,098.16 crore with nearly 3.54 crore shares changing hands. The Midcap index closed 0.15 points lower at 1,060.15 points. Earlier, it had dipped to a low of 1,053.50 and a high of 1,064.85 points.

 

Heavy selling was seen in Mahindra & Mahindra which dipped to Rs 216.75, a drop of 4.20 per cent. Market sources said Jardine was rumoured to be selling at this counter.

The market remained in the trading range and even the domestic institutions kept away. The fear that no political party will get a complete majority has dampened the trading sentiment, said a dealer with a foreign brokerage.

The Indrayon counter also saw some selling with the scrip closing at Rs 140.25, a drop of 4 per cent from its previous close of 146.10.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) witnessed hectic activity before gaining 6.80 per cent at Rs 102.85. It had closed at Rs 96.30 on Tuesday. IPCL also witnessed hectic activity. It closed at Rs 54.60 against its last close of Rs 52.95.

Among the other major gainers were Arvind Mills at Rs 58.15 over its previous Rs 55.10, a gain of 5.54 per cent. ICICI closed at Rs 78.20 over its last close of Rs 76.65. IDBI moved up to Rs 78.45 (Rs 77.25) and Oriental Bank closed at Rs 63.65 (Rs 62.70).

Good buying was seen in ITC. The scrip closing at Rs 593.25 (Rs 587.05). Its turnover was Rs 400.35 crore. Next to ITC in terms of trading turnover was SBI, clocking a turnover of Rs 75 crore. Tata Tea saw a turnover of Rs 70.37 crore.

The demat segment witnessed a turnover of Rs 1.69 crore with nearly 1.96 lakh shares changing hands. Arvind Mills saw trades in 70,600 shares and 67,600 shares in IPCL.