Sensex reacts by 61 pts

Sensex reacts by 61 pts
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

Mumbai, Sep 13: Stocks beat a hasty retreat pushing the benchmark Sensex down by about 61 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange today in the wake of bull liquidation as well as profit booking by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and financial institutions (FIs).

The market initially showed signs of a fresh rally following an upsurge in select heavyweighted stocks. However, lack of follow up support from FIIs and FIs induced speculators to lighten commitments that led to a strong reaction in the Sensex which dipped to the day's low of 4690.50 before closing at 4702.52 as against yesterday's close of 4763.63, netting a fall of 61.11 points or 1.28 per cent. The BSE-100 Index fell back by 28.18 points to 2393.77 from previous close of 2393.77.

Citing the impending price hike in petroleum products asthe major adverse factor, dealers said speculators had turned cautious and preferred to wind up outstanding positions in view of penultimate session of current account on the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE). They also termed the unexpected reaction as a technical correction in several counters which had registered sharp rises during the last few sessions.

The continuous downslide in the Nasdaq Composite Index which fell by another 46.84 points last night, taking the total loss to about 249 points in the last three sessions, partly affected the market sentiment.

The sentiment for the software stocks remained negative on Wednesday. A large number of stocks from the software sector showed a negative close, and the net impact on the Sensex was a fall of 60 points to 4703. Dig Equipment, HFCL, DSQ Soft, Satyam Comp, Sterlite, SSI, Silverline, and Pentamedia recorded a sharp fall from their highs. Global Tele managed to attract huge buying interest and showed a positive close.

Among the pivotals, ITC attracted strong buying and remained firm for a major part of the day. Hindalco gained more than 11 per cent. Other stocks like HLL, Reliance, L&T, ACC, MTNL and SBI showed a negative close.