Selling pressure curbs gains

STOCKS REPORT

The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex lost ground on selling pressure yesterday though the broader markets remained positive, with gainers outpacing losers 1,176:530.

The Sensex lost 0.91 per cent (50.93 points) to close at 5,520.44, touching a high of 5,608.31 and a low of 5,509.58 in the intra-day trades.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty fell 11.90 points to close at 1,750.15.

Selling pressure was seen most in IT companies on concerns that a strong rupee will squeeze the sector's profit margins. Other blue-chips also fell due to profit-taking but gains were seen in non-Sensex PSU, pharma and banking stocks.

The BSE IT index fell 2.23 per cent to 1,722.08, the consumer durables index fell 2.28 per cent, the Bankex was down to 0.92 per cent while the PSU index was marginally up by 0.13 per cent and the capital goods index was up 0.61 per cent.

Says a dealer from a local brokerage, "despite the Sensex closing weak, the sentiment is still positive on expectations of strong fourth quarter results."

He adds that fresh liquidity is also expected in the new fiscal year. Companies will start reporting results for the January-March 2004 quarter in the first week of April.

Heavyweights State Bank of India was down 2.57 per cent to Rs 592.60, ITC fell 1.98 per cent to Rs 1,046 and Reliance Industries was down 0.27 per cent to Rs 527.20.

Tech pivotals Satyam Computer was down 4.01 per cent to Rs 301.45, Infosys Technologies was down 3.42 per cent to Rs 5,037.90 and Wipro fell 2.40 per cent to Rs 1,376.70.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements fell 4.20 per cent to Rs 287.20, ACC was down 1.88 per cent to Rs 250.25 and Grasim was down 1.39 per cent to Rs 1,034.50.

Bajaj Auto was down 1.01 per cent to Rs 883.55 and Tata Motors was down 0.82 per cent to Rs 469.15.

Tata Power was down 3.63 per cent to Rs 373. ONGC was down 0.57 per cent to Rs 839.60. ICICI Bank fell 0.78 per cent to Rs 297.30. Zee Telefilms was up 3.71 per cent to Rs 134.20.

State-run Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals was up 6.6 per cent to Rs 74.70 and Kochi Refineries rallied 4.5 per cent to Rs 204.50.

Analysts said that higher refining margins in the past few months will help refiners to report strong growth in quarterly earnings.