Foreign investors continued to be net sellers in the equity market during the week ended April 17. The net FII outflow for the given period was Rs 20.57 crore in the equity market and in the debt market the figure touched a high of Rs 43.61 crore. With the given erosion during this week, the net FII outflow for the month of April now stands at Rs 112.86 crore or $28.57 million.

Sebi notification to ICL merchant banker: Sebi has advised the merchant banker of India Cements Ltd to ensure despatch of offer documents to shareholders within 10-days and to open the offer for the take over of Raasi Cements Ltd by May 4, 1998. According to a Sebi press release, the merchant banker has also been advised to issue an advertisement to this effect.

Carbon & Chemicals scrip suspended from trading: Carbon & Chemicals India's shares will not be allowed to be traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange with effect from April 27 in view of the record date of May 26declared by the company. The record date has been fixed for the purpose of alloting one equity share of Philips Carbon Black for every three existing equity share of the company following the scheme of amalgamation with Phillips Carbon Black.

Non-pari passu shares delivery system to be revamped: The Bombay Stock Exchange has decided to revamp the procedure for delivery of non-pari passu shares in the demat segment. As per the revision brokers will be allowed to deliver non-pari passu shares by giving a letter to the clearing house one day prior to the payin day, containing details regarding the code they have traded in and the ISIN nos alloted earlier to the demat shares.

BSE revokes suspension on Rajmata Investments: BSE has revoked the suspension on dealing in the securities of Rajmata Investments & Finance on the exchange with effect from April 27 as the company has complied with the clause 41 of the listing agreement relating to publication of unaudited financial result.

US-64 dematfacility: In pursuance to the agreement signed between UTI and NSDL, UTI has now finalised its arrangements for providing the dematerialisation facility under the Unit Scheme-64. This facility will be available at all the branches of UTI from April 23.

BOI Shareholding: The market operations comittee on the BSE decided that in cases where delivery of shares is marked to BOI Shareholding and the cheque required for new share dividend is not attached, the clearing house will debit the amount and a penalty of Rs 100 per market lot directly from the delivering members valan account.

Sebi suspends two brokers: Sebi has suspended Atul Krishnakant Dalal, member of Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and Pankaj N Patel, member of Vadodara Stock Exchange for two years and the suspension will come into effect from April 27. Sebi had conducted enquiries about the abnormal price rise and alleged price rigging in the scrip of Reliable Finstock on the stock exchanges between mid-May and mid- June 1995 from Rs 32to Rs 185.

Nifty loses 2 points: After a firm start, share prices met with heavy selling pressure from foreign funds and declined sharply on the first day of the current settlement at the National Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The market witnessed a total turnover of Rs 1,856.87 crore from 891.13 lakhs shares in a record number of trades at 2,92,616. The NSE-50 index opened better at 1212.95 and rose to 1247.15. Later, it declined to close at 1210.80, showing a small fall of 1.95 points over the last close of 1212.75.

DSE index gains 20 points: Late selling by profit-takers and FIs completely reversed an early bullish trend as share prices fell back to close with fresh losses at the Delhi Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Marketmen said players who were major participants for long bull-run, started off-loading their positions to book profits at current higher levels. After some initial wild movements, the Delhi Stock Exchange sensitive index ended 19.72 points or nearly 2 per cent down at 904.29points after crossing 930 points in early trading.

Scrips decline at MSE: Equities moved down to close with moderate losses at the Madras Stock Exchange on Wednesday. A few counters finished better. The MSE index moved back to 4282.84 from the previous close of 4322.28. ITC lost ground by Rs 6.90 to Rs 774.75, Reliance shed Rs 6.15 to Rs 194 and Telco slipped by Rs 2.10 to Rs 282.50.

NSE demat shares: About 31.24 lakh demat shares were delivered in the physical segment in the last settlement at the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The value of these shares is about Rs 62 crore. The total number of shares that were delivered amounted to 6.04 crore shares valued at Rs 1,340 crore. Demat shares delivered account for 5.17 per cent of the the total settlement which officials say is fairly healthy considering that this is the first settlement where delivery of demat shares in the physical segment has been allowed.

Singapore index loses 17 points: Singapore shares bounced off their lows onWednesday but the key Straits Times Industrials Industrials (STI) index was still down over 1 per cent at the close. The index sank to an intraday low of 1,470.41 before rebounding to end at 1,475.52, down 1.13 percent or 16.82 points.

Rupee ends marginally lower: The rupee rallied from its early sharp falls against the greenback on heavy dollar supplies for profit booking by banks and fresh export remittances but still ended marginally lower owing to good corporate demand, in a fairly active trade, at the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market on Wednesday. Outright rupee-dollar spot dealings were active with the SBI making purchases in the early session at lower levels of 39.7600 and 39.7650 per dollar as the rupee weakened to a low of 39.77. The rupee ended at 39.70/71.

Gold prices recover smartly by Rs 40: Gold prices recovered smartly by Rs 40 at the bullion market on Wednesday on higher international advices. Prices of silver also staged a sharp rally of Rs 90 on poor supply of rawsilver. Standard gold rose by Rs 40 to close at Rs 4,240 while 22-carat gold was nominally quoted higher at Rs 3920 as against the last close of Rs 3885.

Zinc, tin prices improve: Prices of zinc and tin rose at the non-ferrous metals market on Wednesday on higher London advices coupled with fresh industrial support. Elsewhere, prices of other base metals held steady.