Sensex closes 15 pts down as FIIs stay off markets

Our Markets Bureau

Mumbai,Nov 5: Bourses snapped a three-day rally on the bourses in a lacklustre trading day as traders and investors await direction in the absence of any sustained purchases from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The BSE 30 Sensex closed at 3037.01 points, down 15.59 points, after opening marginally higher at 3058.11, compared to Friday’s close. In late morning trades, the Sensex hit an intra-day high of 3070.66 points, but in the absence of fresh infusion of funds from institutional investors, traders began unwinding their long position in late afternoon trades, which led to the Sensex hitting the intra-day low of 3030.57 points.

After sustained buying in the first four weeks of October, FIIs turned net sellers last week.

Among index-heavy weights, ITC Ltd had the sharpest fall to close at Rs 645.55, down Rs 26.90, on a volume of 15.78 lakh shares. The ITC share has lost over 12 per cent in the last two trading sessions, following the Supreme Court ruling on ban on smoking in public places and public transport. The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and union territories to ban smoking in public places and transport, coupled up with UTI’s denial of any talk with ITC, or its parent company British American Tobacco (BAT) to sell its holding to BAT. On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty closed down 6.55 points at 991.05, slightly recovering from its intra-day low of 987.85 points.

The Nifty opened slightly weaker at 997.25 points, but firmed up in late morning trades on trader buying to hit the intra-day high of 1001.30 points. Second rung software stocks attracted speculative buying on value purchases as these stocks had lost substantially, following the terrorist attacks on the US. The gainers include NIIT Ltd, Mastek, Aftek Infosys, Aptech and DSQ Software.

Dealers said the article appearing in The Financial Express of the finance ministry considering tax on share transactions as tax deducted at source, also impacted on the sentiment. A dealer at a domestic brokerage said that the Sensex might shed more points in coming days as the market has gained substantially in the last four weeks, without any firm correction.