Mumbai, Nov 15: In the absence of any operator buying, combined with themarked absence of FIIs and domestic institutions, the markets on Mondayremained sluggish. Although infotech stocks remained more-or-less strongduring the day, these counters shed some points towards the close of tradingon Monday and closed weaker. And according to brokers, Tuesday being thelast day on the NSE, it needs to be seen how the positions on the NSE areunwound. While the BSE Sensex closed 43.69 points down to 4585.92 points,the S&P CNX Nifty on the NSE shed 10.85 points and closed at 1362.70points.According to brokers, in the absence of any operator buying, Monday's marketwas like a `captainless ship'. ``And not only the operators, the FIIs andthe financial institutions also remained on the sidelines which pulled themarkets down,'' said Chirag Sanghvi at Asit C Mehta InvestmentIntermediaries. ``Also the rising crude prices in the international market,which almost touched $25 today, is a cause for concern- this might lead toanother round of hike in diesel prices shortly,'' said Sanghvi.
On Monday, the Sensex opened opened firm at 4675.98 and rose further to theday's high of 4681.06 reflecting smart gains in select pivotals, primarilyHindustan Lever. However, later during the day, the index met with a strongresistance and dropped to the day's low of 4581.74 and closed at 4585.92 ascompared with last Friday's close of 4629.61, thus showing a net loss of43.69 points.
The Nifty, on the penultimate day of the current account on the NSE, openedat 1372.15, touched the day's high at 1381.10 and the day's low at 1358.15,and closed at 1362.70 against its previous close of 1373.55.
Brokers expect the markets to remain lacklustre on Tuesday. ``We areexpecting the markets to remain sluggish and the movement stock-specific. Weare likely to see some good movements coming in, on Wednesday, but thatwould also be selective in nature,'' said Rajiv Sampat at Parag ParikhFinancial Advisory Services.
And in a slightly longer term outlook, ``the market is expected to driftslowly, provided there is no further hike in diesel prices.In case diesel prices are raised, we might see another major fall in themarket,'' says Ambareesh Baliga at Kotak Securities. ``Currently, there isan element of hesitancy among the people, and this is likely to stay tillthe fears about the Y2K bug is settled once and for all, ie, till the newyear comes,'' explained Baliga.
Pentafour Software was one of the star performers on Monday. Riding high onsome stock split rumours, the counters witnessed heavy activity on Monday,and closed substantially higher.
Also, among the other software counters, lot of movement was witnessed inthe Hughes Software counter. Although the scrip hit the lower circuit on theNSE on Monday, at the close of the day's trading the stock was up from thecircuit level by around Rs 50 to Rs 1380 level. Apart from the these stocks,Zee Tele, DSQ Software and HFCL also closed with substantial gains overtheir respective Friday closings.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.