Mumbai, Aug 1: Lacklustre trading continued in the market with only the MNC pharma scrips as a group showing some movement. After opening marginally higher, selling pressure took the Sensex lower and at the close it was 26.17 points down to 4253.69 points. Brokers are yet not sure about the probable path the market might follow over the next few trading sessions.Global Tele and ACC were the two scrips which attracted substantial buying on Tuesday, despite the cement major reporting a loss in its Q1 announced on Monday. Market players say, foreign investors are bullish in Global and the trading pattern reflect the same. On Tuesday, Global topped BSE's turnover table at Rs 706 crore coming from 60 lakh shares. The ACC counter on the BSE saw 56 lakh shares change hands aggregating Rs 63 crore.
On Tuesday, supply of paper continued on the bourses coupled with absence of buyers. This put pressure on a number of counters and a large number of stocks showed a negative close. Sterlite, Satyam Comp, Infosys, Pentamedia, Silverline and Dig Equipment remained under pressure, and closed in negative territory.
Stocks from the pharma sector managed to attract buying, and stocks like Smithkline Pharma, Ipca Lab and E-Merck showed significant gains. The sentiment for other stocks remained weak. The BSE Sensex opened at 4295.35 points, touched a peak of 4302.86 points, and closed at 4253.69 points. The low for the day was 4239.82 points. At the same time, S&P CNX Nifty lost five points, and closed at 1328.20 points. The high for the day was 1344.50 points whereas the low for the day was 1322.60 points.
On the BSE, the number of advances stood at 633 and the number of declines stood at 820. At the same time, 131 stocks remained unchanged. On the BSE, total turnover was Rs 3,738 crore, while the corresponding figure on the NSE was Rs 4,576 crore. The stocks which gained more than 7.9 per cent on the BSE were Guj Gas, Smithkline Pharma, E Merck, Ipca Lab, Hinduja Finance, Mobile Tele, Infotech Ent, VJIL, Datasoft App. Other gainers for the day were Anco Com, Sawca Com, Elgi Equipment, Jaiprakash, Bank of Raj, Jupiter Orga, Birla 3M, Amtek Auto, Hind Power, Otis Elevator.
At the same time, stocks which dipped more than 7.9 per cent were M&M, Bom Dyeing, Polaris, Aurobindo Pharma, ITI, Tata Telcom, PSI Data, Veronica Lab, Fortune Info, Colour Chips, Sriven Multi, Thirumalai. Other losers for the day were Colgate, VSNL, Hero Honda, Shyam Tele, Esab India, BEL, Wockhardt, IOC, Alok Text, DSQ Bio, Titan Industries.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.