The Hindu : Sensex drops 65 points on late selling

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 23, 2003

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Business

Sensex drops 65 points on late selling

MUMBAI SEPT. 22. Led by steel stocks, equities fell sharply after a promising start and pushed the Sensex down by 65 points at close in volatile activity on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday due to late sell-off by speculators and institutional investors.

Tisco, SAIL and Jindal Strips were among the top ten losers on selling triggered by reports that the Government had warned of some tough action if steel companies failed to voluntarily stabilise domestic steel prices.

Depicting the slide, the BSE 30-share index that spurted to the intra-day high of 4237.42 at early stages, later fell to end at 4151.72 against last Friday's close of 4217.12, a net loss of 65.40 points. The broadbased BSE-100 index declined to 2102.05 from 2140.62.

Attributing late sell-off by speculators to hedging by foreign institutional investors in derivatives, brokers said FIIs who made increased net investments of Rs. 803 crores in the first four sessions of last week, were believed to have shifted their focus to the cash group. Bulls resorted to unloading of high positions in futures and options while domestic funds booked profits at the prevailing higher levels, they added.

Key stocks such as Reliance, Hindustan Lever, HPCL, ITC, Hindalco, Grasim, Tata Motor, SBI, Ranbaxy, Cipla, Dr. Reddy's Lab, Bajaj Auto, Satyam Computer and BSES also recorded substantial falls. Meanwhile, the BSE slapped special margins on 101 scrips including steel stocks with effect from Monday to check volatility.

In the specified group, 125 including 30 index-based counters registered sharp to moderate losses while 67 others closed with gains.

The total volume of business was sharply lower at Rs. 1,437.21 crores against Rs. 2,114.59 crores.

— PTI

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