BSE REPORT
After a firm start, speculatives met with a marked reaction and the Sensex dipped marginally by over 12 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday as operators booked profits at higher levels and foreign institutions kept away.
Well supported by higher carry forward charges in some scrips including ITC and lower badla rates of about 0.5 to 0.75 per cent at the turn of the settlement, share prices rallied at the early stage in the new account, taking the Sensex substantially up to the intra-day high of 3,964.03 around mid-session.
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However, higher levels could not be maintained as players resorted to selling pressure triggered by the absence of the market mover, foreign funds, though financial institutions bought small lots in side stocks like HDFC, Bayer India and Steel Authority.
The BSE sensitive index closed slightly lower at 3,912.83 as against last Fridays close of 3,925.24, a minor loss of 12.41 points. The BSE-100 index inched down by 3.89 points to 1,699.74 from the previous close of 1,703.63. Brokers said the profit taking was in line with squaring off business on the National Stock Exchange ahead of the approaching end of account.
This was the second time the market witnessed a weak trend in spite of some scrips having attracted `ulta badla, which showed them in oversold position. The market had suffered a setback in the new account last week despite higher carry forward charges in several scrips. Public investors took the opportunity to book profits as a syndicate of big operators was manipulating prices of a select few key scrips pushing the index up, a leading dealer said.
The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted fractionally up at 380.95 and 175.30 compared. The total volume of business was Rs 921.95 crore as against the last turnover of Rs 832.56 crore.