MUMBAI, DECEMBER 24: Market players have started unwinding after frenzied buying witnessed earlier during the week. Profit booking has begun with the last trading day of the year being December 30. Profit booking at higher levels and squaring off of positions by operators on the last day of the current account on the BSE resulted in a 94-point slide in the Sensex. Friday's trading on the bourse was shortened by one-and-half hours till 2 pm to accommodate the weekly badla session late in the evening. After the BSE closed, the NSE weakened further and the Nifty closed at 1458.
On Friday, the Sensex opened marginally higher at 4982.72 (also the day's high), but as profit booking and unwinding of positions started, the index gradually dipped to the day's low of 4845.77 and finally closed at 4874.73, a net loss of around 95 points over its Thursday close of 4969.22.
But the NSE weakened further after the BSE closed early. When BSE closed for normal trading at 2pm, the Nifty was at 1464 (down 24 points) and finally, at 3.30pm, it closed at 1458, a net loss of around 30 points. According to one dealer with a domestic broking house, had BSE remained open for normal trading, the Sensex would have closed around 150 points down.
Wipro remained strong throughout the day and closed almost Rs 90 higher at Rs 2380 against Thursday's Rs 2293.
The day's high for the scrip was Rs 2440. Other software pivotals like Infosys and NIIT, during the day's trading, lost marginal ground. While Infosys closed Rs 5 down to Rs 12,880, NIIT closed Rs 41 down to Rs 2895. But the trading stocks like SSI, Silverline, Global Tele and Himachal Futuristic were hammered and closed weaker. Also the non-IT pivotals, like HLL, ITC, Gujarat Ambuja and Ranbaxy lost substantial ground and closed lower than their previous close.
On next weak's trading, market players expect a lacklustre trend. According to Hanuman Bhatia at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services, ``From Monday the markets will be in a holiday mood, and we would witness some lacklustre trading.''
Also the next settlement on the NSE which begins on Wednesday, is reduced to two days only - Wednesday and Thursday - as the bourses across country are compulsorily closed from December 31 to January 1. ``It is unlikely that brokers would like to shift positions between the two exchanges just for two days. We are likley to witness trading which is mainly squaring off in nature and some amount of delivery based trading,'' Bhatia added. As the NSE's first settlement is also for two days - Jnaury 3 and January 4 - the normal trading is likely to resume only on January 5.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.