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ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
MUMBAI, Aug 3: Stock markets across the country reeled under heavy selling pressure as other Asian markets declined sharply on Monday. With market players pressing sales on concerns about the falling regional markets, Sensex lost 98.36 points to 3112.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange by 25.4 points to close at 906 points.
Dealers said news of artillery exchanges across the disputed Kashmir border between India and Pakistan also caused nervousness. "The market had to contend with both external and internal negative factors on Monday, said a dealer with a local brokerage.
Reflecting the negative mood of the market, the Skindia GDR index also nosedived by 6 per cent to trade at 621.42 points during the mid day session. Most of the GDRs were quoting at a discount of 4-7 per cent over their closing during the weekend.
Japans yen weakened to over 145 to the dollar on Monday dampening the spirit in the Hong Kong and Japanese stock markets. The HangSeng index of Hong Kong closed 4.83 per cent lower, while the Nikkei index ended 1.31 percent lower.
Said a broker, "India's peace talks with Pakistan ended in a deadlock last week. This raised concerns about security in the region especially since both countries have proven nuclear capability. Last week, corporate earnings numbers drove stocks, but now that most of them are out of the way, the market will drift downward, as there are no positive factors to cheer the market," said another dealer with a foreign brokerage.
According to market sources, FIIs sold ITC, Colgate and Nestle. On the BSE, FIIs continued to be net buyers to the tune of Rs 3 crores. Most of the institutional sales, according to market players, were concentrated on the NSE. Local institutions like LIC and select nationalised banks were rumoured to have picked up small chunks of Tata Tea, Ranbaxy Lab, HPCL and BPCL. On the BSE they bought stocks worth Rs 7 crore.
Steel major Tisco plunged below the Rs 100 mark to close at Rs 99.25 onthe NSE. According to market players this has been the lowest bid witnessed by the stock during the past 8 years, reflecting the negative perception of the earnings growth of the company during the fiscal 1998-99.
ITC recorded the highest turnover of Rs 212 crore on the BSE. On the back of the quarterly performance, the ITC stock was hammered down to a low of Rs 598 registering a net loss of over 6 per cent on the local bourses. A similar trend was recorded on the GDR markets with the ITC GDR falling by 7 per cent to trade at a low of $ 16.88. "The index should continue to be range bound in the band of 3,000 to 3,400 points," said a fund manager.
The volumes on the BSE once again took a severe beating with the turnover falling to a low of Rs 754.59 crore. The advances versus decline ratio once again favoured the declines indicating the bearish phase. On the BSE the ratio was pegged at 323:644. "The index has tested the lower levels of 3,189 and 3,140 points, now it should move down to 2,992 before we MUMBAI, Aug 3: Stock markets across the country reeled under heavy selling pressure as other Asian markets declined sharply on Monday. With market players pressing sales on concerns about the falling regional markets, Sensex lost 98.36 points to 3112.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange by 25.4 points to close at 906 points.
Dealers said news of artillery exchanges across the disputed Kashmir border between India and Pakistan also caused nervousness. "The market had to contend with both external and internal negative factors on Monday, said a dealer with a local brokerage.
Reflecting the negative mood of the market, the Skindia GDR index also nosedived by 6 per cent to trade at 621.42 points during the mid day session. Most of the GDRs were quoting at a discount of 4-7 per cent over their closing during the weekend.
Japans yen weakened to over 145 to the dollar on Monday dampening the spirit in the Hong Kong and Japanese stock markets. The HangSeng index of Hong Kong closed 4.83 per cent lower, while the Nikkei index ended 1.31 percent lower.
Said a broker, "India's peace talks with Pakistan ended in a deadlock last week. This raised concerns about security in the region especially since both countries have proven nuclear capability. Last week, corporate earnings numbers drove stocks, but now that most of them are out of the way, the market will drift downward, as there are no positive factors to cheer the market," said another dealer with a foreign brokerage.
According to market sources, FIIs sold ITC, Colgate and Nestle. On the BSE, FIIs continued to be net buyers to the tune of Rs 3 crores. Most of the institutional sales, according to market players, were concentrated on the NSE. Local institutions like LIC and select nationalised banks were rumoured to have picked up small chunks of Tata Tea, Ranbaxy Lab, HPCL and BPCL. On the BSE they bought stocks worth Rs 7 crore.
Steel major Tisco plunged below the Rs 100 mark to close at Rs 99.25 onthe NSE. According to market players this has been the lowest bid witnessed by the stock during the past 8 years, reflecting the negative perception of the earnings growth of the company during the fiscal 1998-99.
ITC recorded the highest turnover of Rs 212 crore on the BSE. On the back of the quarterly performance, the ITC stock was hammered down to a low of Rs 598 registering a net loss of over 6 per cent on the local bourses. A similar trend was recorded on the GDR markets with the ITC GDR falling by 7 per cent to trade at a low of $ 16.88. "The index should continue to be range bound in the band of 3,000 to 3,400 points," said a fund manager.
The volumes on the BSE once again took a severe beating with the turnover falling to a low of Rs 754.59 crore. The advances versus decline ratio once again favoured the declines indicating the bearish phase. On the BSE the ratio was pegged at 323:644. "The index has tested the lower levels of 3,189 and 3,140 points, now it should move down to 2,992 before wewitness any further corrections in the market," said Neel Dalal, BSE broker.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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