The Hindu Business Line : Sensex drops 91 points in choppy trading

THURSDAY was a day of struggle between the bulls and the bears. The extremely choppy trading session ended with the bears ensuring a 91-point drop in the Sensex. With the lack of any positive triggers, the markets opened weak and immediately slipped into the red.

By mid-morning, the Sensex had shaved off 134 points to touch its intra-day low of 6324.53. However, some value buying at this level propped the index up. In fact, the Sensex moved into the green and scaled a high of 6481.23. But these gains could not be sustained and in a downward slip from 2 p.m., the index dipped back into losses.

Overall, the Sensex shed 91.45 points on Thursday and closed at 6367.39. This indicates a total loss of close to 300 points in the last two trading sessions.

The Nifty graph plotted a similar path with the index staying positive briefly during the day. It was unable to sustain 2000 plus levels on Thursday and the index touched a low of 1984.25. Finally, it closed at 1998.35, down by 33.85 points.

Market turnover on BSE and NSE fell by 16 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. Market breath was negative with 637 declines against 169 advances on NSE. At BSE, 735 scrips advanced while 1,609 declined.

Metal stocks continued on the downward spiral trend that was set on Wednesday. BSE's Metal index shaved off 189 points and 3.18 per cent during the day. The biggest losers in this category were Jindal Steel (down by 4.08 per cent), Sterlite Industries (3.88 per cent) and Tata Steel (down 3.61 per cent).

Contrary to expectation during late December, Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) activity has sufficiently cooled down. In fact, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India indicates that FIIs were net sellers to the extent of Rs 57.9 crore on Wednesday. Net investment by FIIs is expected to be in the negative for Thursday as well.

Market participants are now cautious about index predictions. With no surprises expected in the corporate results, markets are likely to be extremely choppy until the announcement of the Union Budget for 2005, said Mr Ramesh Damani, BSE broker.

Though analysts are attributing today's fall to continued technical corrections, the market is hinged on the hope that the Sensex will not slip below the 6250-level.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Reliance silent on report of Ambanis' legal separation

Long distance calls to cost less on ADC cut

HLL to focus on franchisee route for Modern bread

Free sale quota for sugar enhanced by 4 lakh tonnes

Sensex drops 91 points in choppy trading

FIIs turn net sellers in all segments

The `peak' year for emerging markets

Roadmap for FDI hike in pvt banks soon

Tsunami damage assessed at Rs 5,322 cr

Contributions to The Hindu Relief Fund