Some of the heavyweights like ACC, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and Telco suffered major losses.
In the absence of any major steps being undertaken by the government to improve the macro economic fundamentals of the economy, the market seemed to be heading towards a free-fall, commented senior brokers.
"It is difficult to determine the exact level to which the indices would dip. There is absolutely no buying interest in the B2 group stocks, and the small investor is nowhere to be seen", said a senior BSE broker. According to him, the BSE Sensex could even fall to the 2300-2400 levels if the current lacklustre trend continues.
According to another senior broker: "Much depends on FII allocations for the Indian stock market for the year 1997". However, FIIs seem to be wary of the Indian markets and quite a handful of them have already downgraded India as their investment destination.
Indian financial institutions who had often lent support to the falling markets in the past were also absent. As an analyst commented: "We must clearly understand that artificial propping up of the market through government-owned institutions is a thing of the past".
"The only hope for the markets is a complete upheaval in the country's economic fortunes which has to come though some tough decisions on the political front", he added.
Over the last week, while the Sensex lost a total of 75.16 points, the NSE-50 index lost 19.89 points.
"One of the disturbing trends witnessed in this market is that even good corporate results like that of SBI's have failed to enthuse the market", marketmen added.
On the monetary front, the liquidity crunch seemed to have eased out considerably but at present there is dearth of quality borrowers with the economy experiencing a slow-down.
Among the blue-chips, Reliance, SBI and Cadbury were the gainers during the week. Among the prominent losers were ACC (-122), Tisco (-2), Nestle (-8), Bajaj Auto (-57), Telco (-36), and HDFC (-114).
New Delhi: Bearish trend persisted on the stock market during the week when majority of shares fell further sharply on increased nervous selling coupled with bear hammering and closed with noteable losses spread over abroad front.
Declining trend in Bombay market and fresh developments on the political front also dampened the market sentiment. FIIs refrained from doing any worthwhile business and indulged in booking profit at select counters.
On the other hand, domestic financial houses buying failed to check continuos fall in share prices.
Marketmen said the selling wave was so strong that steady inflow of good working results of many blue chip companies were discounted by the market player.
Opening on a higher note, share prices fell back on brisk selling by bull operators on report of Sebi asking all stock exchanges to submit mandatorily required short selling positions of each broker in each scrip by the end of the day.
Later, a small recovery on revival of buying of selective nature picked up prices only to reduce the major losses, but overall situation was weak. Along with the market move, the Delhi Stock Exchange Sensitive Index after a higher start at 669.14 points fell back to 648.63 points on day-to-day heavy selling, before closing at 648.99 points, showing a sharp fall of 13.79 points against the previous levels.
Market remained closed on Monday on account of "Guru Nanak birthday".
The few gainers were Brooke Bond Lipton, DCM Shriram Consolidated Indian Petrochemical, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Reliance Industries and SBI on select buying support.
ACC was the centre of brisk trading when it nosedived on all round nervous selling along with bear hammering influenced by the company announcing a fall in its net profits.
Among the major losers in the specified section were Telco, Apollo Tyres, Asian Hotel, BSES, HLL, ITC Hotel, MTNL, Ranbaxy Lab, Nestle, SAIL and Oswal Chemical on frantic selling.
Elsewhere, DCM Ltd, DCM Shriram, DCM Dae Motors, Escorts, Essar Shipping, Essar Steel, Finolex Industries, Hind Motors, IFCI, Jaiprakash Industries, JCT Ltd, JCT Electronics, L & T, LML, Orkay, Oswal Agro, SRF, Tisco and Whirpool of India were also weak on increased selling pressure.
Cash section displayed a slightly mixed trend when shares like Bank of Rajasthan, Bhanot Property, Colgate, Archies Greetings, Goga Food, Information Techno, Jaimata Glass, Jindal Photo Films, Jindal Polysters, Kei Industries, Minda Industries, Prakash Industries, Usha International and Usha Ispat declined on brisk disinvestment selling.
Calcutta: A distinct bear dominance highlighted trading on the Calcutta stock exchange during the past week ended with share values dipping allround in the wake of sustained pressure from the BSE where the index slumped sharply.
Buyers preferred to stay away from the market almost throughout the week which witnessed a substantial decline in the turnover.
Even as the week wound up there was no indication that the worst was over and operators were in no mood for new holdings.
The news that the authorities were implementing the Sebi directive on short sales from the new account also had its disturbing impact on the sentiment which is already in doldrums.
Among the worst hit scrip was ACC which at one stage fell below the Rs 1000 mark though the close was a shade above this level at Rs 1005 (Rs 1120). Among others Tisco finished at Rs 154 (Rs 155), ITC at Rs 272.50 (Rs 270), L & T at Rs 213.50(Rs 212), SBI at Rs 219.50 (Rs 216) and Reliance at Rs 182 (Rs 178). Cesc Jaiprakash, Hind Motor, Tata Tea and scores of other counters too wound up with losses on balance but IPCL bounced back to Rs 104 from Rs 97 in the wake of reported better performance.
