Bearish trend on Lyons Range

By A Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, SEPT. 2. The Calcutta Stock Exchange turned visibly bearish last week with share prices plummeting under the weight of selling pressure that was rather pronounced in the final day's session. Sellers were dominant in the market for major part of the week which was marked for restricted volumes because of general mood of caution on the part of investors - institutional as well as others. Even the pharma counters, which had been surging forward in the recent past on active support, failed to hold ground in the midst of a sustained fall in most other counters. Occasional support noted to select shares including those in the I.T group were not fully held because of the late pressure. Mirroring the price fluctuations in the market the CSE's 40-share index eased to close at 1690.76 from previous week's close of 1715.04 points.

In the early part of the week buyers emerged in some of the key counters which moved ahead as a result providing for some level of brightness to the list. But this did not last long as bears took utmost advantage of all negative developments to hammer down prices with their onslaught somewhat severs on Friday. Both institutions and others were eager sellers in a host of shares on the final day. Their offerings were noted in Infosys Technologies, RIL, Zee Telefilm, ITC, Grasim, GACL, ACC and Dr. Reddy's Lab - all posting perceptible losses consequently.

Because of the sell off all sections of the market participated in the down slide. The majority wound up in the minus territory as a result. The exceptions were Zee Telefilm which closed at Rs. 116.50 against previous 113.80 and Wipro at Rs. 1,510 against Rs. 1,499 with Castrol held at Rs. 259 against Rs. 253.50 and VSNL at Rs. 284 against Rs. 277.

Among other posting losses during the week under review were Tata Steel at Rs. 80.10, SBI at Rs. 198.30, ITC at Rs. 720.20, Hind Lever at Rs. 218.70, Reliance Industries at Rs. 310.10 and Grasim at Rs. 270. The week thus wound up on a pessimistic note with little sign of an immediate recovery in evidence, senior operators commented. In their view negative developments outnumbered the positive ones with the result that bearish forces gained control of the trading ring progressively during the week with their grip rather firm in the final session. The ongoing problems on the economic front too had its share in dampening the sentiment of the market.

The opening was highlighted by a spurt in the software counters aided by sustained support under the influence of a strong recovery on the Wall Street. Dealers attributed the upsurge to a reflection of a sharp rise of over 73 points in the Nasdaq composite index at the end of the previous week, due to a positive outlook statement from the Cisco Systems. Selected old economy shares especially cement stock, attracted some new buying on the news of a price hike for cement.

With positive news hard to come by, there is no inclination on the part of investors to move in and pick up fresh lots of shares.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Tata group may absorb Indian Bank's MF subsidiary
Next     : Dr. Reddy's Lab to focus on biogenerics market