Sluggish Trend Persists On Bourses

The Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index lost ground to settle at 3382.71. The revised 30-share Sensex opened at 3440.48, touched an intra-day high of 3448.58 and a low of 3380.32, before closing at 3382.71, which is a net loss of 52.12 points. The bourse witnessed trading in 2.96 crore shares worth Rs 325.82 crore with the A group contributing Rs 279.12 crore, while B1 and B2 group stocks chipped in with Rs 29.01 crore and Rs 17.59 crore respectively.

Kerb trades did not see any dramatic price movement. According to sources, the Reliance stock moved down to Rs 201 from the day's close of Rs 202. The Iraqi retaliation is likely to affect the market movement today, brokers said.

 

The Gujarat Ambuja and Telco stocks fell mainly on account of reports that a substantial chunk of shares would be released by the custodian, following Special Court orders. The Gujarat Ambuja stock price fell from an opening of Rs 301 to close at Rs 287.50 at the BSE and Telco slipped from Rs 490 to Rs 465.25 at the BSE and from Rs 500 to Rs 465.50 at the NSE.

The National Stock Exchange witnessed lacklustre trading with pivotals closing marginally lower. The NSE-50 index opened at 1002, touched a high of 1009, before reaching a low of 990 and closed at 991, losing 10 points over the previous close of 1001. The net traded value was Rs 790.79 crore and the net traded quantity was 413.94 lakh shares.

Sources say the market is passing through a very dull phase and needs some trigger. Says a source at Lloyds Securities: The market witnessed dull trading and the FII activity was concentrated in stocks like Telco, MTNL, ITC, Gujarat Ambuja. Prices declined due to selling pressure on these counters.

Brokers say the market is awaiting the announcement on public sector disinvestment. Said a BSE broker: The government needs to clearly state the manner in which it plans to go about disinvestment. It is planning to raise about Rs 5,000 crore in the market where the equity segment is passing through a very dull phase.''

Among the counters which saw a downslide were BSES, Cipla, Cyanamid, Essel Packaging, Garware Polyester and Pidilite Industries.

The SBI stock continued to hog the limelight with maximum trading on the major bourses. The stock opened on the BSE at Rs 276.50 and closed at Rs 268.75, a net loss of Rs 7.75 over the previous close. It opened on the NSE at Rs 277 and closed at Rs 269.50, registering a net loss of Rs 5.10 over the previous close of Rs 274.60. The stock witnessed trading in 36.95 lakh shares worth Rs 100.70 crore on the BSE, while it saw 110.30 lakh shares worth Rs 300.52 crore changing hands on the NSE.

The Reliance stock opened on the BSE at Rs 207.50 and finished the day at Rs 202.25, which is a net loss of Rs 4.75 over the previous close. The stock witnessed a net loss of Rs 2.20 on the NSE.