The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday witnessed its third most volatile trading session since January 1998 with the sensex moving in a range of 224 points between 4113.42 and 3888.81 as domestic traders, sensing nervousness at higher levels, liquidated long positions early in the day.
Large-scale foreign fund buying later in the day, mainly in cyclicals, helped the sensex bounce off its lows. The BSE index ended 36.08 points lower at 4039.39 from its previous close of 4075.47 .
Being close to its settlement day, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) index shed 13.45 points to end the day at 1151.90. From the day's high of 1171.10, the Nifty dipped to a low of 1120.70.
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Market observers pointed out that weak opening of the Asian markets coupled with the absence of buyers in the morning proved to be a dampener. This made domestic traders nervous and forced them to reduce their exposure. However, foreign funds continued to remain bullish. On Friday, they remained net buyers of Rs 296 crore.
With this, total foreign institutional investment for May has touched Rs 1,321 crore, surpassing Rs 895 crore in April.
Market sources said foreign funds continued to buy into the value stocks which saw the State Bank of India, Hindustan Petro-chemicals, Bharat Petroleum and IPCL hit the upper end of the circuit filter. On the BSE, SBI closed at Rs 248.10, HPCL Rs 254.95 and BPCL Rs 245.95.
However, Ranbaxy shed 4.3 per cent on the NSE to end at Rs 698.30 against its previous close of Rs 730. Glaxo closed weak at Rs 726.50, dipping to a low of Rs 710 during intra-day trading. Software scrips also continued their downward trend with Satyam, Pentafour and Infosys ending the day much lower. e="description" content="The State Bank of India (SBI) has shifted focus on increasing its market share in deposits and advances during the current financial year, after having lost ground in both the segments. The bank has set aggressive targets for advances and deposits of 16 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.">