MUMBAI, May 13: The selling pressure continued on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) mainly in the absence of speculative support following end-account considerations on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The downtrend was also due to limited support extended by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and lack of domestic institutional support. The closing rates showed further widespread small to modest losses.

The BSE sensitive index declined further from the opening level of 3734.69 to 3692.60 before finishing at at 3701.96 with a net loss of 33.29 points compared to the previous level of 3735.25. The BSE-100 index eased by 11.39 points to 1597.80 from the previous level of 1609.19.

Brokers said the sentiment turned weak in the absence of local support and most of the operators were squaring up their outstanding positions. FIIs made moderate purchases in select scrips like Glaxo, Satyam Computers, Otis Elevator, Kirloskar Cummins, Exide Batteries, Hind Zinc, BHEL, Cochin Refineries and others.

Speculators were not interested in making any fresh commitment ahead of the announcement of the impending hike in the prices of petroleum products.

Corporate results continued to be discouraging and most of the companies were showing sharp decline in net profit. The political situation in the country remained uncertain, forcing marketmen to restrict their business.

SBI continued to be the most active scrip in terms of volume with a turnover of Rs 159.90 crore in the total of business of 578.23 crore followed by ITC of Rs 80.75 crore, Reliance of Rs 69.99 crore, Telco of Rs 44.24 crore and BPCL of Rs 22.33 crore. ACC declined further by Rs 48.25 to Rs 1166.50, Hindustan Lever Rs 48.25 to Rs 1069.75, HPCL Rs 11 to Rs 415, MTNL Rs 6 to Rs 281 and Thermax Rs 30.50 to Rs 278. Cipla declined sharply from Rs 813.75 to close at Rs 734 on selling pressure.

On the NSE, trading was lacklustre and equity prices closed marginally lower in the absence of support from investors on the last day of the current account. The market witnessed a volume of Rs 1113.20 crore. The NSE-50 index closed at 1031.05, showing a loss of 9.45 from the previous close of 1040.50. The Midcap closed at 1122.30 with a decline of 3.95 from the previous close of 1126.25.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.