The Hindu : Equities lose early gains

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 13, 2003

Business

Business

Equities lose early gains

MUMBAI NOV. 12. Equities lost their early gains and select blue-chip stocks even registered marked falls pushing the Sensex down by nearly 25 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday on late sell-off by local institutions.

Dramatic slow down by foreign institutional investors also considered to be a factor responsible for selling by operators which were believed to have entered into fresh commitments in several counters.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened moderately higher at 5040.55 and later improved further to the intra-day high at 5059.98 before ending at 5005.77 against the previous close of 5030.64, a net loss of 24.87 points or 0.49 per cent. The broadbased BSE-100 index eased by 3.94 points to 2599.71.

Discounting various positive factors including strong economic fundamentals, domestic funds that have been net sellers to the tune of Rs. 530 crores in the last four sessions from November 5 to 10, reportedly booked profits at the prevailing higher levels, brokers said.

Initially, PSE stocks including a few index heavyweights rallied smartly on hopes that FIIs would step up activity following net investments of Rs. 233 crores on Monday. Meanwhile, reports that Government was considering selling its 20 per cent stake in Indian Oil Corporation and 5 per cent equity in ONGC in domestic and overseas markets did not have any positive impact on the market. The volume of business was relatively up at Rs. 2,340.31 crores. — PTI

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