Steady Trend Persists On Mixed Trade

Equities showed mixed pattern of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with the Sensex staying almost steady as operators squared off their positions on the last day of the current settlement. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutions, however, extended limited support.

While FIIs picked up shares of Reckitt & Coleman, Carrier Aircon, Bata India, State Bank, MTNL and Dr Reddy's Lab, Financial Institutions continued their buying in Colgate, Reliance Industries, IPCL, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro.

The BSE sensitive index moved in narrow range of 3,234.54 and 3,184.10 before closing at 3,211.31 as against yesterday's close of 3,212.10, netting a minor loss of 0.79 point. The BSE-100 index too showed a fractional fall by 0.69 point to 1,416.67 from previous close of 1,417.36.

 

The business was generally of squaring up in nature, particularly unloading the long positions at the weekend. Marketmen expected a rally of over 100 points next week before the market encounters a resistance at the Sensex level of 3,328. The possibility of this rally further strengthened in view of expectation of low badla rates of around nine to 10 per cent per annum at the turn of the current account. Dealers, however, said "The rally depends fully on whether investors extend their support, which is absent for quite some time now."

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted marginally down at 324.54 and 126.96 compared with previous close of 324.95 and 127.21 respectively. ITC remained the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 255.53 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 942.31 crore. Other active scrips were Satyam Computer (Rs 123.84 crore), SBI-new (Rs 86.47 crore), Zee Telefilms (Rs 74.35 crore) and Tata Tea (Rs 59.74 crore).

The ITC scrip finished better at 634 from previous close of 633.75. Satyam Computer improved by six to 515.25, Zee Telefilms by 19.75 to 598.25, SBI-new by 4.10 to 210.10, Tata Tea by 22.30 to 302.40 and Telco by 1.40 to 131.50. Meanwhile, lacklustre trading was witnessed at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) despite a slew of excellent corporate results. The S&P CNX Nifty closed at 931.40 points, a loss of 1.20 points over the previous close. The Nifty Junior posted a modest gain 0.30 points over the previous close of 1,450.15 to close at 1,450.45.

The bourse clocked a traded turnover of Rs 1,325.67 for the day. The ITC scrip came under some selling pressure initially following announcement of its first quarter results. Since market expectations were in the range of Rs 200 crore, the figure of Rs 170 crore caused some initial disappointment. However, hectic short covering towards the close of trading session saw the scrip stage a minor recovery. Most of the activity was speculative in nature centered around the announcement of the ITC, HLL and Tata Tea results. FIIs and FIs maintained a low key stance, however, the former were more active on the selling side.

Tata Tea's results took players by surprise as it exceeded their expectations. The response was reflected in the scrip price which was frozen after there were no sellers at the counter. Other major gainers of the day include ICICI, Asian Paints, MTNL and SBI.