Indices shed nearly 1 per cent

STOCK REPORT

Key indices ended nearly 1 per cent down in choppy trade Wednesday after touching new highs. The BSE Sensex hit a record high of 8821.84 points and the NSE Nifty 2669.20, eclipsing their peaks of 8808.83 and 2667.05, respectively, touched on Tuesday. Worries over investments by foreign funds""net sellers in last two sessions""weighed on the sentiment.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 8724.47, down 75.49 points, or 0.9 per cent, from Tuesday. The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed at 2644.40, down 18.95 points, or 0.7 per cent.

In the last two sessions, foreign institutional investors have net sold shares worth $35.6 million cumulatively. Earlier, they were last net sellers on September 27 when they sold shares worth $74.6 million.

Trading was extremely choppy for a major part of the session today. Rise in interest rates in the US and a likely hike here also affected the sentiment. "There are increasing concerns of a rise in interest rates here after signs of a certain rise in US interest rates," said a technical analyst. He was reacting to the sharp fall in U.S. indices Tuesday, with the Dow Jones shedding 94.37 points to end at 10441.11 because of worries over inflation.

"The Asian markets were also down today and this too played on the sentiment," said Jagdish Malkani of Jagdish Malkani Securities. He said there was otherwise no cause for concern and frontlines, along with select mid-caps, will continue to gain. All the indices on the BSE as well as on the NSE ended in negative territory.

Turnover in the NSE's cash segment fell to Rs 62.70 billion from Rs 66.74 billion on Tuesday. Market breadth was negative, with all the groups on the BSE being dominated by bears.

Around 53-70 per cent of the shares fell in various groups. Zee Telefilms, with a rise of 7 per cent to Rs 188.25, was the biggest gainer in the Nifty. Other major gainers were Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and

Ranbaxy Laboratories, up 3.7 per cent and 2.0 per cent, respectively.

ICICI Bank fell 5 per cent to Rs 561.35 on concerns over further equity dilution. The bank will consider the issue of equity capital on October 13. The stock was the biggest loser in the Nifty.

Otherwise also, bank shares were the biggest losers, with the BSE Bankex shedding 2.3 per cent to 5043.11 points. Other major Nifty losers were Hindalco Industries, HCL Technologies, Nestle India, and ITC, down 2.0-4.0 per cent.

Shares of oil marketing companies like Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp., rose 1.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

This was because of global crude oil prices slipping below $64 per barrel. The CNX Midcap fell 0.6 per cent to 3889.45. For every share that rose in the index, two shares declined. There were no major gainers in the index.