The Hindu Business Line : Sensex yo-yos, down 75 points

JITTERY investors took the stock market on a yo-yo trip on Tuesday even as the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, unveiled a typical election-year interim Budget that contained enough goodies for voters but also took care not to disturb the economic balance too much.

The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange ended the day at 5620.98, a loss of 1.31 per cent or 75 points from its previous close. Its counterpart on the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty, lost 2.25 per cent to close at 1769.

After the Government said it would push back Gail India's equity issue, public sector stocks took a beating. The BSE PSU index sank more than 5.7 per cent to 3466.31.

The Sensex opened high at 5715 but steadily slid about 60 points. As the Finance Minister's Budget speech progressed, the index gradually pulled back.

However, after the speech ended, it sank like a stone and touched the day's low of 5550.17 on some heavy selling in index stocks, a dealer said.

He said the wildest swings in both the Nifty and Sensex were seen in the last 20 minutes of trading.

Around 3.10 p.m., heavy buying, said to be by institutional investors, in pivotal stocks lifted the Sensex to near 5660 levels.

The buying abated within a few minutes and the index again dropped but regained some lost ground in the last couple of minutes.

Wild swings in the indices have almost become a norm over the past couple of weeks and many dealers attribute the volatility to speculator activity.

One market source said brokers were shunning many retail as well as some high net worth clients who were facing difficulty in putting up margins.

However, even though institutional activity has reduced, their sentiment appears intact.

The chief dealer of an institutional brokerage firm told Business Line that foreign institutional investors were still bullish on India but felt an index valuation of 6000-6200 was not justified now.

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Sensex yo-yos, down 75 points