Shallow run worrying

STOCKS REPORT

Select technology and steel scrips managed to be on the right side of the breakeven in an otherwise dull day. Concerns over an erratic monsoon further dampened an already low sentiment in the market on Wednesday, despite strong quarterly earnings reported so far.

The transaction tax imbroglio also continued to haunt the market with the much hyped FM-broker meeting late on Tuesday failing to settle frayed nerves.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex fell 1.03 per cent (50.69 points) to close at 4,848.30. Moving in a range of almost 100 points, the Sensex hit a high of 4,933.34 in early trades but then faltered to the day's low of 4,835.34 in intra-day trades.

Market players are expressing concerns over the lack of depth in the market with most blue-chips out of favour with investors. 22 scrips of the 30-scrip Sensex basket closed lower while gainers outpaced losers 8:7 on the BSE.

Day traders, jobbers and arbitrageurs were back in the markets after a short hiatus protesting the government's proposed transaction tax, but failed to drive volumes.

Volumes were higher than the three-year lows hit on Monday and Tuesday. Cash segment turnover of Rs 1,748.25 crore was reported on the BSE and Rs 3,959.02 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net sellers of Indian shares worth Rs 13.10 crore on Tuesday while domestic mutual funds were net sellers to the tune of Rs 43.10 crore.

The BSE IT index was the biggest gainer in a subdued market, gaining 1.54 per cent, propelled by encouraging corporate results of bellwether Infosys Technologies.

The Infosys scrip gained 1.29 per cent to close at Rs 1,420.60 while Wipro was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, up 3.21 per cent to Rs 511.85. Satyam Computer gained 0.75 per cent to Rs 322.70.

Tata Steel gained 1.98 per cent to Rs 313.65 and the Steel Authority of India scrip was up 3.45 per cent to Rs 30.

Auto and cement companies continued to be hammered as a fall-out of the erratic rains.