Sensex Slides Following Us Attack On Iraq

Though the Indian markets and the overall economy will not be directly affected by the current US-Iraq face-off, selling pressure came in from local operators during the mid-trading session on the major bourses.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were known to be selling in select counters, but the indication was that they would hold on to current investments.

The BSE 30-scrip Sensitive Index opened strong at 3544.03 and continued to move up during the opening session, touching a high of 3586.89. This was mainly on account of the market welcoming the Sebi crackdown on 33 brokers in Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi over illegal badla and short sales. But following the news of US missile attack on the Iraqi border, selling pressure pulled down prices of leading pivotals.

 

In mid-afternoon, Sensex fell below the 3500-mark, and during the late afternoon session, the market was steady at 3490-95 levels, before closing the day at 3484.68. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), market sentiment saw a downtrend and selling pressure was witnessed on the last day of the trading cycle.

By the end of the trading session on the BSE, brokers were convinced that if the face-off does not snowball into a major crisis, Sensex would remain steady as there is support coming in from domestic financial institutions and local operators. Should the crisis, however, deepen, Sensex could lose 500 points, and could touch a level of 2900-3000, brokers said.

The NSE 50 Index opened at 1040, touched a high of 1047 in the early morning session and touched a low of 1017, before closing at 1023, losing 14 points over the previous close of 1037.

Trading volumes on the major exchanges was, however, up sharply, with the net traded value on the NSE crossing Rs 1,000 crore, touching Rs 1,243.85 crore. The net traded quantity was 663.89 lakh shares, and the number of trades was 1,39,084.

On the BSE, traded volumes touched Rs 578.70 crore, including Rs 520.07 crore in the specified group with the volume of shares traded being 385-lakh shares.

The SBI stock was the most actively traded on the exchanges with a traded volume of Rs 197.74 crore on the BSE and Rs 405.07 crore on the NSE. The stock fell sharply from an opening of Rs 284 to touch Rs 276.25 on the BSE and Rs 276.50 on the NSE against an opening of Rs 281.50 on the exchange.

The Reliance scrip also fell sharply from Rs 214-215 levels to close at Rs 207.25 on the BSE and Rs 207.35 on the NSE. Reliance witnessed steady trading on the bourses with a traded volume of Rs 79.37 crore on the BSE and Rs 206.79 crore on the NSE. The Tisco stock fell below the Rs 200-level again, closing at Rs 193.50 on the BSE and Rs 193.80 on the NSE against opening levels of Rs 200.