The Hindu Business Line : Market volatile; sentiment hit

Opening 137 points lower, the Sensex recovered quickly and traded above 9,000 mark in the early trade amidst high volatility. The expiry of the November future & options contracts added to the volatility.

The Sensex dipped into the red in the afternoon trade as rumours about fresh firing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus created panic in the city. The index closed at 9,092 with a gain of 66 points while the Nifty closed at 2,755, up just 3 points.

“It was a nervous and hesitant market, but it has come to a level where investors stepped in to buy ,” said Mr R Balakrishnan, Executive Director, Centrum Capital.

FIIs net buyers

FIIs were net buyers of equities worth Rs 168.54 crore and domestic institutions Rs 621.24 crore.

The turnover was lower on the Bombay Stock Exchange at over Rs 2,396 crore as compared to Rs 3,233 crore on Wednesday, while it was higher at Rs 9,753 crore (Rs 8,818 crore) on the National Stock Exchange.

Mr Ravi Narain, MD, NSE, told a televison channel that volumes were 10 per cent higher as compared to the previous day in the equity cash side and 10 per cent lower in equity derivative transactions on the NSE.

“Most of the member brokers could log on to their terminals as NSE had also made special arrangement for members who could not log on at their offices,” said Mr Narain.

Only 915 shares advanced while 1, 114 shares declined on the BSE. Overall, there was trading in only 2,093 company stocks, far less than 2,230 company shares in which trade took place on Wednesday.

With inflation coming down further to 8.84 per cent, the pressure was off from the realty, automobile and banking stocks.

Under pressure

Stocks of film-related companies - PVR Ltd., Adlabs Films, Inox Leisure, Pyramid Saimira and Cinemax India- closed in the red after the Maharashtra Government decided to suspend screening of movies till further notice.

Aviation and hotel stocks also came under selling pressure. Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Spicejet fell between 5 and 6 per cent.

Among the hotel companies, Indian Hotel Company fell 17 per cent as the battle between the security and the terrorists badly damaged the Taj Hotel located in South Mumbai. Hotel Leelavenutre slipped 3.06 per cent while East India Hotels Ltd gained 5.22 per cent after the news of the terrorists being flushed out by the security personnel from The Oberoi Hotel came in before the close of the markets.

The future and options expiry and rollover which was postponed from Thursday to Friday went on smoothly, said Mr Narain. Nifty rollover was at 60 per cent while F&O roll over was at 70 per cent.

The rupee depreciated by 60 paise against the greenback on Friday, in a volatile market.