BOMBAY, 30 December — Mounting apprehensions of war meant the Indian bourses and the Indian rupee were down. On Monday, there was selling almost throughout the day and the BSE closed at 3,232.97. Reliance Petroleum and Gujarat Ambuja Cements were major losers of the day due to the proximity of their plants to the border. HFCL ended in the red on huge selling pressure following reports that the Enforcement Directorate was probing into the company’s private placement of shares. Balrampur Chini recovered from a low of Rs.85 to Rs.91 after it announced buy back of its shares at a price not more than Rs.100 per share.
And Exide Industries announced its buy back at a price not exceeding Rs.70 per share.
The markets were closed on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, reports of border tension led to large scale selling and the BSE closed at 3,175.86. Trading on the bourses was extended by one hour to 16:30 IST because of a technical snag on the National Stock Exchange.
Selling was more conspicuous in stocks of companies with units in proximity to the troubled Indo-Pak border. Reliance Petroleum was down at Rs.27.10.
HPCL sank into the red in afternoon trades on reports that petroleum product prices may remain controlled even after dismantling of the administered price mechanism, scheduled for April 1, 2002. Telco was in the news after it reported that it plans to develop several variants of its Indica, to serve different market segments.
ABB rose on reports that the company had received an order worth around Rs.800 million to supply three substations to Syria.
On Thursday, the BSE ended at 3,131.78, a loss of 44 points. Investors responded with restrained caution as stocks tumbled. Selling pressure was seen almost across the board encompassing New as well as Old Economy stocks.
Grasim lost ground on fears that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India might accept the recommendation of a sub-group on takeover code wherein it has suggested that in case of professionally managed companies, which do not have an identifiable promoter group, an acquirer will have to make an open offer to acquire a minimum of 51 percent stake.
Wipro was down with talks of the company laying off 300 staff.
Shipping Corporation of India firmed up on renewed buying interest after the government announced that it plans to offer 51 percent of its stake for sale.
Friday was full of surprises and wild ups and downs. The BSE Sensex closed at 3,184.44.
The markets seemed to be determined to end the day on a positive note, unmindful of various factors which could have led to the Sensex crash. First was the SEBI report indicting Ketan Parekh and select foreign brokerages. Then was UTI move to restrict its equity exposure in US-64 to a maximum of 55 percent in the coming days. But good news was that UTI has decided to hike the repurchase limit on US-64 to 5000 units. War fears, which saw the rupee touch an intra-day low of 48.36, also seemed to have been discounted by the market.
Gold was at Rs.4,640/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7,690/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs.48.27, pound sterling at Rs.69.76, Deutsche mark at Rs.21.41, euro at Rs.42.51, UAE dirham at Rs.13.11, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.156.54, Bahraini dinar at Rs.127.78, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.84, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.23 and Omani riyal at Rs.125.12.
