BOMBAY, 9 December — On Monday the BSE closed at 3,275.47, a loss of 12.09 points. Though the market had opened the day on a positive note, selling pressure toward the mid session, pulled down the index.
Cement stocks were in the limelight on talks of a phased cut in cement production by cement manufacturers.
India’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI) saw immense selling amid concerns about its exposure in the troubled Enron’s Dabhol power project. ICICI was also down due to similar concerns.
Bajaj Auto fell to Rs.375 after it reported a lower sales growth in November 2001 compared to the previous month. The company’s growth in motorcycle sales also dropped to 28.9 percent from 104 percent growth in October 2001.
In the IT sector, Satyam Computer was up Rs.214.20 on news that it negotiating with AOL Time Warner Inc. and Singapore Telecommunications to sell its stake in its subsidiary Satyam Infoway.
On Tuesday the BSE closed the day at 3,320.28. Stocks like Infosys, NIIT, Reliance, HLL, ITC and Satyam were all up. Cement stocks were down while pharma stocks had a mixed day.
There was confirmed news that Zee was, indeed, in talks with AOL and the stock came under profit-taking today.
Mirc Electronics, better know as the "Onida" company was up at Rs.217 following the recent ORG-GFK report which stated that it had cornered the second slot after BPL in the color television market with a 12 percent market share.
On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,409.64. There was all buying in tech and pivotal stocks. Domestic tech majors Infosys Tech and Wipro announced that they had bagged new overseas orders. Old Economy and defensive sector stocks also contributed to the gains of the Sensex. PSU stocks were in the limelight on divestment hopes.
On the other hand, ICICI sank further down to Rs.45.90 amid concerns about the long-term financial institution’s exposure to troubled Enron’s Dabhol power project. Old stalwarts like Telco, Tisco, Reliance Petroleum were down due to profit-taking.
On Thursday, the BSE closed at 3,431.57. In the technology segment, Infosys, Satyam and HL Tech were the key gainers. However, HFCL, NIIT, GTL, Wipro, Silverline, Tata Infotech, VisualSoft and Digital declined. Institutional selling seemed to take away the early gains.
Amongst index heavyweights, key losers were HLL, Reliance, Zee, Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy, Hero Honda, HPCL and Castrol. Reliance was volatile and was amongst the gainers in the morning. But in what seemed like institutional selling, the counter lost ground at close.
Aluminum surprisingly recovered. Hindalco, Indal and Nalco were marginal gainers. But Indo Gulf and Tisco were losers among other commodities.
On Friday, the BSE Sensex closed at 3,436.37.
The top five gainers were Satyam Computers, ICICI, Tata Steel, NIIT and HPCL. And the prominent losers included Telco, Bajaj Auto, ITC, M&M and SBI.
Tech stocks were among the major gainers while select Old Economy stocks — notably automobile and cement — were subdued on profit booking after recent gains.
Media major, TV 18 was up at Rs.111.05 after it announced allotment of 700,000 shares to its promoters at a price decided by formula based on the average prices. It has also approved increasing the FII investment limit to 49 percent of its equity.
Gold was Rs.4,550/- per 10 gms and Silver was Rs.7,270/- per Kg.
US dollar was Rs.47.86, pound sterling at Rs. 67.84, Deutsche mark at Rs.21.49, euro at Rs.42.49, UAE dirham at Rs.13.02, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.155.87, Bahraini dinar at Rs. 126.87, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.75, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.14 and Omani riyal at Rs.124.22.
