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Sensex in negative territory

BL Research Bureau

AS the global equity markets turned nervous over the high oil prices and the Nasdaq Composite Index nosedived by around 3.60 per cent over the week (and by 2 per cent on Friday alone), the global contagion caught the BSE Sensex as well. For t he fourth day in succession, the BSE Sensex ended in the negative territory, recording the biggest losses on Monday's trading as it dipped by 195 points to close for the day at 4,366.41 points.

Between September 12 and 18, while the BSE Sensex dipped by 8.33 per cent, the broadbased BL-250 Composite Index declined by 8.51 per cent. This sharp downward spiral knocked off nearly Rs 49,198 crore from the market capitalisation of the BL-250 Index.

Over this period, the biggest loser among BL Sectoral Indices was the Technology Index, which declined by 13.17 per cent. This was largely attributable to the sharp dip in the prices of both frontline stocks such as Wipro, Infosys and Satyam and NIIT as also the second and third rung stocks. The Banks and FIs' Index, which dipped by 8.56 per cent, was the only other index which lost value higher than the BL-250 Composite Index. Among the other sectoral indices, the Consumer Confidence Index and MNC Inde x, which declined by 4.50 per cent and 4.70 per cent, were among the ones which lost the least value.

In this volatile market, the prominent stocks which bucked the overall market trend were Sundaram Clayton which appreciated by 21.6 per cent, India Nippon Electricals (11.4 per cent), Otis Elevators (9.4 per cent), Hindalco (7.4 per cent), Pfizer (6.8 pe r cent), Grindwell Norton (6.6 per cent) and Marico Industries (6.4 per cent). Among the key losers were two IT stocks -- Trigyn Technologies and TVS Technologies -- which shed 24.3 per cent respectively. The other major losers were Goodyear, ICICI Bank and Vikas WSP.

Only 4 buck the trend

WITH the decline of about 4.3 per cent on Monday, the Sensex has declined by about 8.5 per cent since September 12, 2000. On Monday's trading, only four out of the 30 stocks constituting the BSE Sensex managed to close on a positive note. Except for Nova rtis India, Castrol India, Telco and BSES, the remaining 26 stocks lost value.

Even among the gainers, Telco was the only one to post a rise in excess of Re 1 while BSES inched up by Rs 0.20 while BSES ended marginally better, recording a gain of Rs 0.35. Telco ended the day with a gain of about Rs 1.35 to close at Rs 91.80. The ri se on Monday appears to have been triggered by reports that Telco's sales improved in August compared to the previous month.