MUMBAI, Jan 9: The free fall of shares and indices continued for the second successive day as stock exchanges in the country continued to reel under the impact of the crash of other Asian stock markets and currencies and Moody's move to review the rating of India. Institutions kept away while speculators rushed to square up their positions on the last day of the trading cycle on the BSE.Reflecting the mood, the BSE sensitive index dropped to the intra-day low of 3514.99, piercing through another support level of 3525, reflecting the fresh onslaught, before closing at 3530.20 as against yesterday's close of 3598.16, netting a loss of 67.96 points. The BSE-100 index lost 33.97 points at 1533.49.
The volume of business was substantially up at Rs 1119.81 crore due to the entry of foreign funds. ITC recorded the highest turnover of Rs 293.88 crore followed by Tata Tea Rs 190.20 crore, SBI Rs 149.44 crore, Castrol Rs 83.69 crore and RIL Rs 68.76 crore. The market leader ITC was up by one rupee at Rs 594.
However, RIL softened by Rs 2.75 to 163.75, SBI by Rs 2.50 to 234.25, Telco by Rs 6 to 281, Tata Steel by Rs 4.50 to 129.50, Castrol by Rs 18.25 to 697.75 and Tata Tea by Rs 15.75 to 408.
Meanwhile, in NSE too share prices declined following increased selling pressure. The NSE-50 index started weak at 1057.65 and closed at 1033.55, showing a notable fall of 24.20 over the last close of 1057.75. The Defty after a poor start at 923.05 and settled at 901.05 revealing a sharp loss of 23.50. The Midcap index also resumed subdued at 1199.70 and closed at 1171.35, disclosing a steep fall of 28.60. The total tornover was Rs 1,869.11 crore.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
