Erratic movements in equities

MUMBAI, MARCH 19. Equities moved further lower, pushing the Sensex down by another 23 points in extremely erratic movements on the opening day of new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on alternate bouts of buying and selling by domestic operators and speculators.

Domestic financial institutions were reportedly buyers, albeit in small quantity, generally in index-based counters. However, foreign institutional investors who made heavy and consistent purchases in the past several days, were reportedly conspicuous by their absence.

The BSE barometer opened moderately down at 3728.51 and later fluctuated irregularly in the range of 3774.69 and 3680.26 before closing at 3722.49 against last Friday's close of 3745.74, a net fall of 23.25 points. The BSE-100 index eased by 9.78 points to 1784.34 from 1794.12.

Apprehensive over prevailing political situation at the centre coupled with hefty margins of 25 per cent on net outstanding sales position, domestic operators and speculators were unwilling to make any fresh commitments and preferred to square up their holdings.

In the specified group, gains outnumbered losses by 84 to 58 but majority of gainers were second line stocks.

- PTI

'BSE financially strong'

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, MARCH 19. The Bombay Stock Exchange today reiterated that it does not envisage any payment problem in the near future as total funds available with the exchange were around Rs. 2,600 crores.

The BSE stated that the corpus of the exchange's Trade Guarantee Fund (TGF) stands at Rs. 1,904.37 crores as on February 28. The exchange has also obtained an insurance cover for TGF to the extent of Rs. 60 crores from New India Assurance Co. In addition, the exchange's own reserves and surplus stand at Rs. 450 crores as on February 28.

Further Brokers' Contingency Fund (BCF) and Investors' Protection Fund (IPF) stand at Rs. 27 crores and Rs. 120 crore respectively as on February 28. ``All this goes on to prove that the exchange is financially strong,'' the exchange added.

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Section  : Business
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