MUMBAI, Jan 28: The 30-share BSE Sensitive Index hit yet another 52-week low at 3,200.83 on Wednesday on massive across-the-board selling by foreign institutional investors. Poor sentiment spurred selling by local operators as well which saw the Sensex settle at 3,209.55, down 66.66 points over its previous day's close.Continuous selling by FIIs in the absence of adequate buying support from domestic financial institutions saw the Sensex plunge below the crucial mark of 3,250 during mid-session.
``The sharp fall in the stock indices with huge volumes signifies yet another phase of bearish mood in the market,'' commented a BSE broker.
The BSE recorded a sharp jump of over 59 per cent in its turnover at Rs 994 crore. Brokers attributed the sharp fall in the indices to the jump in call and interest rates.
``The steady recovery in the Indian rupee and the steep hike in the rates offered by banks on fixed deposits makes the stock markets more unattractive,'' said Neel Dalal, a BSE member. ``The 3,200-markis a crucial level, once the index fails to get support at this psychological barrier, it's inevitable that we see a new low at 2,800 levels,'' he explained.
According to market sources, despite the fact that net FII inflow till January 27 was a negative $57 million, the figure is likely to touch a high of $65 million in the next three trading sessions. Rumours that Morgan Stanley and WI Carr sold about 16 lakh shares of ITC further unnerved the market, reflecting on their respective share prices. ITC traded in the band of Rs 545.50-586.90, the intra-day low and high respectively before closing at Rs 550, registering a loss of 5.26 per cent over its previous close.
On the BSE, the stock accounted for 40 per cent of the turnover to register a huge volume of 64 lakh shares valued at Rs 363 crore. On the NSE, the stock recorded a volume of 1.3 crore shares.
Another stock which registered huge volumes was Castrol which accounted for a turnover of Rs 164 crore. Brokers said Jardine Fleming was reported tohave sold at the counters of Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, HPCL and BHEL.
Although the market has been disturbed by the absence of UTI on account of its redemption pressure, rumours that the trust had entered the market to pick up 1.2-1.5 lakh shares of ITC helped the stock recover from the day's low.
Among the heavyweight index stocks, SBI fell by Rs 3.75 to close at Rs 235.25, Bajaj Auto by Rs 15.25 to close at Rs 506.75, Gujarat Ambuja by Rs 8.25 at Rs 216 and Mahindra & Mahindra by Rs 8.75 at Rs 236.25.
Concentrated selling by local and foreign punters saw the HLL stock fall by Rs 20 to close at Rs 1,296.50, HDFC fell by 4 per cent to close at Rs 2,772, HPCL fell by 6.82 per cent to close at Rs 382 and BHEL dropped by 7 per cent.
About 20 index-based stocks touched their respective 52-week lows on the BSE.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
