Sensex loses 25.77 points

Thursday, June 26 1997

Sensex loses 25.77 points

ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, June 25: Pivotals remained slightly subdued on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on emergence of profit-taking coupled with lack of speculative support at the higher level. After a better spell, blue chip shares led by Reliance and others declined as the session progressed on selling pressure.

The BSE senstive index fluctuated in a range of 4132.40 and 4078.31 during the session, before closing at 4093.62 with a net loss of 25.77 points compared to the previous level of 4119.39. The BSE-100 index also dipped by 10.05 points to 1761.20 from the previous level of 1771.25.

Brokers said the selling pressure was on rumours ahead of the Reliance bonus meeting tomorrow that the company would consider a bonus ratio of two equity shares for five shares held. If the Reliance board decides to give a bonus of 2:5, the ratio would be short of market expectations of a liberal bonus issue of 1:2 or 3:5.

The market sentiment was also affected on rumours that that Reliance chief, Dhirubhai Ambani, would be resigning to hand over the charge to his sons. However, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) made fresh purchases in blue chips like Hindustan Lever, SBI, ACC, Tata Steel and others. Hindustan Lever scored impressive gains of Rs 54.50 at Rs 1353.75 on fresh buying support.

Reliance for the first time recorded the highest turnover of Rs 412.25 crore of the total business of Rs 907.41 crore followed SBI Rs 111.23 crore, ITC Rs 7.78 crore, Telco Rs 59.16 crore and ACC Rs 40 crore.

However, Reliance dropped by Rs 8 to Rs 366.50 on profit-taking. ITC lost Rs 7.75 at Rs 494.50, SBI Rs 2 at Rs 339.25, Telco Rs 9.50 at Rs 450.75 and ACC Rs 11.75 at Rs 1310.25 on profit-taking. Arvind Mills, Bajaj Auto, HPCL, Gujarat A Cement, BPCL, Nestle, Tata Chemicals, Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC, Finolex Cables, Tata Power, German Remedies and Voltas also remained subdued.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), select shares improved further. The NSE-50 index declined to 1161.90, showing a gain of 6.60 against the previous close of 1155.30. The Midcap index closed at 1171.60 dropping 3.75 from the previous close of 1175.35. The total turnover was Rs 1954.42 crore.