Mumbai, Apr 22: Politics once again occupied centre-stage on the bourses. Players, including domestic and foreign institutions, remained on the sidelines. With the prospects of an alternative government looking dim, activity on the markets remained dull. After three days of wait and watch, market players lost all hopes. Instead, fears of a possible mid-term polls unnerved many players. The result: The Sensex lost more than 100 points from its intra-day high of 3516 to close at 3408, with a net loss of 54 points over the previous day's close. The passing of the Budget and the Reliance results hardly had any impact on the market sentiment. ``These were expected. We are now worried about the new government. A mid-term poll looks inevitable,'' said a broker who sees uncertainty gripping the market in the next few days.``The picture is not clear at all. The new formation that is being attempted is far more fragile than the earlier one,'' said another broker.
The markets opened steady on Thursday morning inanticipation of passing of the Budget. Punters made some purchases in select counters. The BSE Sensex which opened steady at 3463.07 touched a high of 3516.31 as operators built further positions. However, as the news of passing of the Budget trickled in the trend reversed, and the Sensex declined to touch a low of 3393.48 before recovering marginally.
Pivotals declined towards the mid-session after opening strong initially. Hindustan Lever moved up from Rs 2165 to 2240, but fell later. ITC and State Bank of India saw a similar trend.
Reliance Industries opened at Rs 130.30 and rose to a high of Rs 132.40. It closed at Rs 125.50 around its day's low of Rs 124. Brokers said the results were on expected lines.
The movement in the software counters stocks were in a narrow range as they declined towards the mid-session. Satyam Computer and Pentafour Software counters declined towards the mid-session, while Infosys Technologies was relatively steady.
Selling pressure was pronounced in the second-rungsoftware stocks. Software Solutions hit the lower limit of the circuit breaker on the BSE at Rs 747.75.Aluminium stocks continued to remain firm, thanks to the rising trend in aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Hindalco (Rs 594.50) and Indal (Rs 63.85) hit the upper limits of the circuit breaker before declining slightly towards the mid-session.
A similar trend was seen in counters like Siemens and Mahindra & Mahindra which hit the upper limits of the circuit breaker at Rs 212.40 and Rs 262.70 respectively.
Pharmaceutical and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) shares also declined after initial strength. Counters like Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Novartis, E Merck etc. were firm. Profit-booking continued in the refinery counters.
Among others, ABB, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Vikas WSP, BHEL, etc. improved while others like Grasim, BSES, MTNL, Philips, Punjab Tractors, Zee Telefilms, Finolex Cables, Tata Tea, Cummins India, Larsen & Toubro etc. were weak.
FII inflow touches $21mn
On April 21, net investments by FIIs into the Indian market was Rs 89 crore. In dollar terms, this works out to $ 20.8 million. According to the latest Sebi figures, on Wednesday, FIIs invested in the equity segment of the market only, remaining totally inactive in the debt segment. While gross FII purchases was Rs 162.5 crore, gross sales was Rs 73.7 crore.
During April, FIIs brought in Rs 543.5 crore ($ 128 million) into the country. According to Sebi figures, a major chunk of the total inflow, Rs 514.3 crore ($ 121.2 million), came in through the equity route of the market. In the debt segment, FIIs bought instruments worth Rs 78.3 crore and sold instruments for Rs 49.5 crore during the period under consideration. This gives a net inflow figure of Rs 28.8 crore ($ 6.8 million).
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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