Sensex falls below 3,900 level again

Sensex falls below 3,900 level again
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

Mumbai, Nov 22: Stocks suffered a sharp setback pushing the benchmark Sensex down by about 63 points -- below the 3,900 level -- in restricted activity on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) following selling pressure from investors and lack of interest by foreign funds.

Sensex opened on a promising note at 3938.46 but later met with resistance and gradually moved downwards to close at 3862.39 as against yesterday's close of 3924.70, netting a fall of 62.31 points. The BSE-100 Index also dropped by 34.45 points to 1994.59 from the previous close of 2029.04.

Investors looked extremely disappointed and preferred to lighten their commitments in the light of net sales by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which had made sizeable investments in the initial period of the month. FIIs had made net sales of about 310 crore in five sessions between November 14 and 20.

Investors were also nervous over the prevailing trend on the US markets that remained under pressure due to uneasiness over earnings, economic slowdown and analysts downgrades of high-profile stocks. Besides the US presidential election outcome is still being unresolved. Dealers, however, attributed the cautious attitude by operators to the Supreme Court directive to 6 top BSE brokers to provide the profit and loss accounts for determining registration fee following a complaint by SEBI, saying ``the regulator wants to collect more money in the form of turnover tax.''

In the specified group, 96 counters including 23 index-based shares registered substantial losses while 44 others closed with moderate gains.Infosys Tech dropped by 257.60 to 7416. Himachal Futuristic was down by 30.80 at 1254.75, Satyam Computer by 28.15 at 349.80, Zee Telefilms by 8.60 at 277.45, BHEL by 2.25 at 118.05, BSES by 3.70 at 189.55, Colgate by 2.90 at 156.10, Grasim by 4 at 222.55, HLL by 1.60 at 181.70, HPCL by 3.40 at 128.95, Hindalco by 11.55 at 651.55, L&T by 1.85 at 165, M&M By 3.50 at 143.25, MTNL by 2.00 at 148.05, NIIT by 17 at 1625.25, RIL by 1.40 at 308 and TELCO by 2.90 at 80.45.

However, TISCO improved by 1.05 to 110.50, SBI by 1.70 to 168.70, ITC by 4.15 to 784.50, GACL by 1.35 to 151.85 and Dr Reddy by 3.70 to 1335.25.

Rupee declines

Mumbai: Notwithstanding IMD (India Millennium Deposit) inflows and the jump in forex reserves, the rupee declined further against the US currency on renewed dollar demand from corporates and importers, but ended off intraday lows in moderately active two-way trade at the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market here today. The Indian unit closed at 46.8150/8250 per dollar, another two paise fall from overnight levels of 46.79/81 after dipping to intraday lows of 46.84/85 on strong dollar demand from banks and importers. The rupee opened at 46.8050/8150. It had depreciated by three paise yesterday.

Banks went long on the dollar in early trade on expectation of dollar demand from corporates and importers and pushed the rupee down to 46.84/85.But lack of heavy follow-up buying of dollars later induced them to unwind a major part of their long positions towards the close ahead of a US holiday tomorrow, dealers said. A large private-sector petrochemical company sold dollars around midday which led to unwinding of long dollar positions by banks, a dealer said.