Sensex loses 18 points in cautious trading

MUMBAI, AUG. 20. The Bombay Stock Exchange remained depressed today in view of bleak economic scenario globally, and sustained mild selling pushed down the Sensex by 17.79 points to 3278.92 in the absence of worthwhile buying support.

Volumes were shallow in a market lacking clear direction ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday on Wednesday.

Business in equities displayed a weak trend following cautious approach adopted by operators as well as institutional investors after a steep fall of over 151 points and 63 points in the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite index respectively last Friday.

A sharp decline on the Wall Street was due to dismal outlook from U.S. tech bellwethers Hewlett-Packard and Dell Computer and also job cuts by Ford Motors. A sustained downswing in the Southeast Asian stock markets at close today also partly aided the bearish trend, dealers said. Majority of software counters suffered a fresh setback after gaining a semblance of stability last week, they added.

Local institutions and funds reportedly pressed sales in select old and new economy shares while foreign funds booked profits in some software scrips.

Reflecting the range bound dealings, the BSE-30 share sensitive index opened lower at 3287.69 and remained in the negative territory throughout the day between a high of 3290.24 and a low of 3271.54 before concluding at 3278.92 against last Friday's close of 3296.71. The BSE-100 index eased further by 7.27 points to 1544.49 from 1551.76.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted down at 338.43 and 119.55 against 340.39 and 120.25 respectively. The BSE-500 moved down by 5.37 points to 993.36 from 998.73. The Dollex-30 shed 3.10 points at 571.18 against 574.28.

The volume of business dropped sharply to Rs. 613.74 crores from Rs. 967.13 crores. Satyam Computer topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs. 93.67 crores followed by Infosys and Zee Telefilms.

- PTI

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