Initial gains not fully held on BSE

MUMBAI, DEC. 4. The benchmark failed to close past the crucial 4084-resistance in spite of a smart rally in old economy stocks on the opening day of the new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange today as foreign institutional investors pressed sales in the index heavyweights.

The sustained upsurge in key cyclicals such as BHEL, Reliance Industries, SBI, ITC, Telco, Tisco, Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja Cement and L&T was attributed to paucity of floating stocks as a result of delivery taken by local institutions that were reportedly making purchases in these stocks for the last several days.

Initially, the Sensex had risen to 4088.28 raising hopes that it would finally close past 4100-mark making way for the long- awaited price rally. However, speculation that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, might accept the resignation of Railway Minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, this time turned the tables against the market.

The adverse factor led to increase selling pressure in heavyweights such as Hindustan Lever, Satyam Computer, Infosys Technologies and NIIT which prominently figured in the losers list.

Finally, the BSE sensitive index closed with a minor rise of 4.53 points at 4036.49 over last Friday's close of 4031.96. The BSE- 200 index, however, eased fractionally by 2.03 points to 2099.62 from 2101.65.

Dealers said speculators had almost ignored negative situation in international markets, awaiting the U.S. presidential elections results, and were optimistic on the positive role of domestic institutions.

- PTI

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