Sensex surrenders 80 points on heavy selling

MUMBAI, MAY 30. Led by IT bellwether, equities beat a hasty retreat pushing the Sensex sharply down by about 80 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange today in the wake of heavy sell-off by domestic mutual funds as well as winding up by speculators.

Operators, which had extended commitments during the last settlement as indicated by an increase in badla rates, reacted quickly to heavy selling by Unit Trust of India which has reportedly been facing financial problems, dealers said.

The sharp downslide in the Nasdaq composite index which dipped by about 76 points yesterday also had sentimental impact on the market.

The BSE sensitive index opened on a promising note at 3745.57 but later met with strong resistance and fell to the intra-day low of 3653.31 before closing at 3662.04 against yesterday's close of 3742.07, a net loss of 80.03 points or 2.14 per cent. The BSE-100 index dropped by 45.54 points to 1780.55 from 1826.09.

The onslaught was so widespread that it did not spare Dr. Reddy's Lab which stole the limelight at the outset on hectic buying prompted by reports that the company's deal with Swiss multinational Novartis would fetch Rs. 258 crores in upfront and milestone payments, apart from royalties. Dr. Reddy's Lab has announced the licensing of its diabetes molecule to Novartis.

L&T too witnessed a smart rally on the company's announcement of excellent growth in net profit during the last quarter of 2000-01 over the corresponding period last year.Terming the setback as a small correction, analysts felt the medium term outlook was strong considering the long-term bull phase that had begun in the market last week.

In the specified group, 124 including 21 index-based countered registered sharp to moderate losses while 50 others finished with gains.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted down at 388.55 and 137.75 against 397.80 and 141 respectively. The BSE-500 softened by 26.15 points to 1146.01 from 1172.16.

The volume of business, however, was marginally down at Rs. 1,804.28 crores against Rs. 1,924.63 crores.

Infosys Technologies were the most active share having recorded the highest turnover of Rs. 171.34 crores followed by Reliance Industries (Rs. 115.02 crores).

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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