The Hindu : Business : Select pivotals suffer setback

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

Business

Business

Select pivotals suffer setback

MUMBAI, AUG. 23. Led by Tata Steel, select counters suffered a fresh setback, pushing the Sensex down by 31 points at close in an otherwise erratic movements on the Bombay Stock Exchange today on short-covering alternated by selling pressure from operators. Steel stocks bore the brunt of selling triggered by cut in steel prices by steel companies.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened steady at 5064.42 and later fluctuated in a range of 5080.22 and 5022.29 before ending the day at 5033.69 against last Friday's close of 5064.66, a net loss of 30.97 points.

After showing signs of stability at 5050-level during first half of the session, the Sensex later witnessed volatile activity as operators turned active and attempted to square up positions ahead of expiry of August contract in Futures and Options (F&O) segment on Thursday.

Tata Steel reduced prices of its main products by Rs. 2,000 a tonne with effect from August 23 to arrest inflationary trends. SAIL also reduced prices by Rs. 1,000 a tonne for its flat and long products.

Meanwhile, a leading rating agency S&P revised the outlook on India's long-term foreign currency rating to positive from stable and warned that the local currency rating could be lowered if the fiscal deficit remained large and the debt burden continued to grow.

RIL, Tata Steel, SBI, HPCL, Tata Motors, MUL, Grasim and Dr. Reddy's registered sharp falls due to selling pressure.

However, Zee Telefilms, MTNL, Infosys Technologies, ONGC, HDFC Bank, and Hero Honda closed with gains.

— PTI

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