ICE stocks turn weak on heavy selling

MUMBAI, JAN. 8. Infotech, communications and entertainment (ICE) stocks nosedived on the opening day of new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange today on heavy selling triggered by reports of arrest of a financier of a top bull operator.

Stung by the about turn by the Nasdaq composite index that fell by about 160 points on Friday, ICE counters later came under increased pressure as a leading speculator resorted to heavy unloading in stocks such as Himachal Futuristic, Global Telefilms, SSI, Silverlive and Infosys after the news of arrest of Bharat Shah reached the market.

The BSE sensitive index opened moderately down at 4164.76 and attempted a mild rally rising past 4200-level on the back of continuous upsurge in old economy stocks. However, it fell sharply after midsession to close at 4120.43 against last Friday's close of 4183.73, netting a fall of 63.60 points or 1.51 per cent.

The BSE-100 index dropped substantially by 46.05 points to 2118.45 from previous close of 2164.50.

Market sources said Shah is believed to be the prime financier of leading stocks broker who had been the main player in some high- priced stocks in ICE sector. Earlier, Shah was interrogated in a bid to unravel the nexus between the underworld and film personalities.

Initially, key cyclicals like BHEL, GACL, HPCL and some others were in the forefront on hectic buying support but failed to maintain higher levels due to the bad news.

In the specified group, 81 counters including 17 index based shares registered sharp to moderate losses while 56 others showed gains.

The BSE-200 index and the Dollex were quoted sharply down at 454.32 and 162.00 compared with last weekend close of 463.87 and 165.23 respectively. The BSE-500 index dropped by 28.34 points to 1353.37 from previous close of 1381.71.

Himachal Futuristic was the top traded shares having clocked the highest turnover of Rs. 987.32 crores followed by Satyam Computer (Rs. 877.70 crores), Infosys (Rs. 754.90 crores), and Global Tele (Rs. 500.58 crores).

The market leader Himachal Futuristic tumbled by Rs. 191.80 to Rs. 1,208.65. Satyam computer was down by Rs. 17.35 at Rs. 371 and Infosys by Rs. 374.35 at Rs. 6,007.15.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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