With the index stocks posting an impressive performance during the quarter ended December 2003, retail investors sold 106 million BSE Sensex shares valued at Rs 4,789 crore.
The only exceptions are MTNL, where investors held on to holdings, and Bharti Tele-Ventures, where they added 2.59 million shares in the quarter.
Sensex heavyweight Reliance Industries was top on the retail investors' selling list, with 19.51 million shares valued at Rs 1,118 crore sold.
They sold 16.72 million shares of ACC for Rs 411 crore, 9.37 million shares of Tata Steel for Rs 416 crore, 7.22 million shares of Larsen & Toubro for Rs 381 crore and 8.36 million shares of Satyam Computer for Rs 307 crore.
An analysis of the sector trends shows that retail investors have pressed heavy sales in banking, cement, technology, oil and shipping scrips.
Retail investors sold 40 million bank shares worth Rs 690 crore, 31 million shares of diversified companies worth Rs 1,383 crore, 26 million shares of cement companies worth Rs 463 crore, 38 million shares of technology companies valued at Rs 993 crore, 14 million refinery stocks valued at Rs 278 crore and 5 million shares of shipping companies valued at Rs 172 crore.
