Sharp fall in Nasdaq affects sentiment on BSE

MUMBAI, MAY 31. Another overnight sharp fall in the Nasdaq composite index triggered fresh sell-off in technology sector and once again adversely impacted sentiment on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

News that the Nasdaq index dropped sharply by about 91 points after a warning yesterday by Sun Microsystems that profits for its current quarter could prove much weaker than the previously forecast, sparked fresh concerns abroad about earnings of high technology companies which, in turn, induced operators and institutional investors to book profits at the prevailing market price.

The market discounted encouraging reports that the net profits of cement companies have shown excellent growth for the fourth quarter and that ITC had recorded a 27 per cent increase in its net profit in 2000-01.

The BSE sensitive index opened weak at 3623.62 and later dipped to below 3600-mark at the intra-day low of 3592.22 before closing at 3631.91 against yesterday's close of 3662.04, still down by 30.13 points. The BSE-100 index also dropped by 17.20 points to 1763.35 from 1780.55.

The Sensex losses were minimised by a smart rally in a few heavyweights such as ITC, Reliance Industries, Grasim, BHEL and Zee Telefilms.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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