The Hindu Business Line : Selling pressure takes its toll

THE bears did make their presence felt, as the markets remained subdued on Tuesday. Led by selling pressure in the frontline stocks, the market for most of the day traded in the negative territory. Investors appeared to have booked profits consequent to the gains registered on Monday. A majority of indices closed in the red.

The BSE Sensex opened at 6694.79 points before crashing into the negative territory to touch an intra-day low of 6640.42, and finally closed at 6670.06, down 9.27 points from Monday's close.

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The S&P CNX Nifty closed at 2089.95 points, down 0.40 per cent from Monday's close of 2098.25.

The stock of Crisil rose sharply by nearly 20 per cent to close at Rs 680.25 on the back of announcements that McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, of which Standard and Poor's is a division, intends to acquire 55.67 per cent in Crisil at a proposed price of Rs 680. A total of 48,312 shares were traded on the BSE as compared to the two-week average of 5969.

Burren Energy, a UK-based oil exploration and production company, has bought Unocal Bharat's 26 per cent stake in Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC) at Rs 92.41 per share, thereby acquiring management control in the company. The HOEC stock dipped by Rs 7.75 or 7.6 per cent to close at Rs 94.20, in the wake of an open offer made by Burren Energy plc to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in HOEC at Rs 92.41 per share.

Shipping sector stocks Varun Shipping Co, Shipping Corporation of India and Dredging Corporation of India closed lower against Monday's close.

Investor interest was evident in the stock of Essar Shipping as nearly 1.9 crore shares were traded on the BSE against the two-week average of 37.76 lakh shares. In a block deal, 60 lakh shares changed hands at a price of Rs 38.65; the stock rose 7.4 per cent to close at Rs 42.70.

Key aluminium stocks closed lower from Monday's close.

Prominent gainers on the Nifty were Tata Power, Grasim Industries, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, ICICI Bank and Infosys Technologies.

Significant losers among the Nifty constituents were Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, HCL Technologies, Tata Tea, National Aluminium Company and Reliance Energy.

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