The Hindu Business Line : All-round selling pressure drags index

BEARISH sentiments prevailed on Friday in the secondary markets as the benchmark BSE Sensex closed the last trading day of the week on a weak note. The index was down 69.89 points (1.44 per cent).

Most of the indices on the BSE including, BSE PSU (1.6 per cent), BANKEX (1.2 per cent) and BSE 500 (1.1 per cent) also closed the day on a negative note.

Sensex opened on a weak note at 4833.34 points, about six points lower than the previous day's closing. The index steadily declined through the day's trading to reach the day's low of 4750.73 points. The 30-stock index closed at 4769.99 points.

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On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 20.85 points (1.38 per cent) to 1491.2 points. Broader indices such as CNX Midcap 200 (0.47 per cent) and the Nifty Junior (0.53 per cent) also witnessed declines. About 17.1 crore shares were traded on the NSE, as against 16.6 crore shares on Thursday.

On the BSE, of the total 1,742 stocks that were traded, 746 advanced, 914 declined and the rest remained unchanged. The decline was higher in the stocks that fall under the `A' group category. Among the Sensex constituents, six stocks advanced and the rest declined.

Barring Infosys Technologies, key index heavyweights registered declines on Friday. The stock of Reliance Industries, which has a 12.71 per cent weightage in the index, fell by 2.1 per cent to Rs 44.8.

The stocks of ICICI Bank (1.7 per cent), ITC (2.7 per cent) and Hindustan Lever (1.4 per cent) also witnessed declines.

PSU stocks were among the losers. The stocks of MTNL (3.9 per cent), ONGC (2.7 per cent) and State Bank of India (2.6 per cent) registered sharp fall.

The stock of Jagsonpal Pharma rose by 4.5 per cent to Rs 223.85. The company has announced a bonus issue of 3:1. The company has also announced the subdivision of its equity share, with a face value of Rs 10 each, in to two equity shares Rs 5 each.

Ashok Leyland is to subdivide its equity shares from face value of Rs 10 each to ten equity shares of Rs 1 each with effect from July 30. The stock rose 1.7 per cent to Rs 120.3.

i-flex Solutions has bagged on order from Banco de Chile to implement its best selling banking product, Flexcube. The size of the order is over $ 10 million (about Rs 45 crore) and the duration of the implementation will be 18 to 24 months. Coupled with sharp surge in trading volumes the stock rose 1.3 per cent to Rs 557.5.

Select banks stocks registered gains on Friday. The stocks of State Bank of Mysore (5.6 per cent) Bank of Baroda (2.5 per cent) and UTI Bank (2.4 per cent) were among the gainers.

Stocks that appreciated include Ramco Systems (10.9 per cent), Dhampur Sugar (5.7 per cent) and Tata Finance (4.7 per cent).

Bata India has assured its shareholders that the proposed business reengineering-cum-financial restructuring plan of the company would also benefit shareholders. Coupled with sharp increase in trading volumes the stock rose 1.6 per cent to Rs 53.55.

Neuland Labs has plans to establish its presence in the US. The stock fell by 3.4 per cent to Rs 133.25.

Polyolefins Rubber Chemicals has plans to raise money through an issue of equity shares on rights basis (ratio of 1:1). The company expects the price (including the premium), to be in the band of Rs 50 to Rs 60. The stock fell by 1.3 per cent to Rs 82.

Sharp fall were also seen in the stocks of SB&T International (7.1 per cent), Ranbaxy Labs (5.8 per cent), Blue Dart Express (5.7 per cent) and Bharat Forge (5.5 per cent) and Andhra Bank (4.4 per cent).