Brokers said most of the activity in the market was speculative as a majority of the institutions remained closed on the occasion of the Parsi New Year.
While the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (BSE Sensex) fell by 17.42 points, the National Stock Exchange-50 (NSE-50) gained 3 points over the previous close of 999 points.
BSE witnessed better traded volumes at Rs 411.76 crore yesterday when compared with those traded last week.
The Sensex opened at 3407.95, touched an intra-day high of 3424.73, fell to a low of 3383.83 and closed at 3388.80.
At the NSE there was a marginal improvement over the previous session. The NSE-50 opened at 1001, touched the days' high of 1010 and fell to a low of 1000. It finally closed at 1002 points.
Traded volumes at the NSE yesterday at Rs 1009.70 crore was also higher than the Rs 902.03 crore witnessed during the previous trading session. The net quantity yesterday was 494.48 lakh shares.
All the leading institutions in the market had a holiday and the trading activity on the bourses was speculative.
The markets will continue to remain in a stagnant state for the next twelve months and there seems to be no sign of recovery, said a BSE
broker:
I would call yesterday's trading session as more of a day of consolidation. I expect today to be a better day, said the head of a foreign brokerage house.
The Reliance stock topped the turnover list
on the the BSE as well as the NSE followed by SBI and Tisco as the second and third highest scrips.
All the three stocks closed lower than in the previous trading session.
Reliance opened at Rs 216 at the NSE and closed at Rs 210 after touching a high of Rs 217.45 and a low of Rs 209.65 during the session. The stock closed higher at Rs 212.25 on the BSE. Total volumes traded in the scrip were to the tune of Rs 358.32 crore at the NSE and Rs 144.48 crore on the BSE.
The SBI scrip opened on the NSE yesterday at Rs 272.90, touched the day's high of Rs 274.40, fell to the day's low of Rs 266.10 before closing at Rs 266.80.
At the BSE the day's close was at Rs 267. The total traded volumes were at Rs 286.14 crore at the NSE and Rs 88.96 crore on the BSE.
The Tisco scrip opened at Rs 193 on the BSE, which was also the previous closing price.
It touched the day's high of Rs 193.50 and the day's low of Rs 188 before closing marginally at Rs 188.50 on the BSE. The stock closed at Rs 188.90 on the NSE.
The total volumes on the BSE were Rs 66.03 crore and Rs 157.16 crore on the NSE.
