Nervousness grips BSE, Sensex down 26 points

MUMBAI, SEPT. 6. Nervousness once again gripped the Bombay Stock Exchange today after share prices reeled under renewed selling pressure, pushing down the Sensex by 26.05 points at close to 3202.55, even as pharma counters continued to be in demand. Majority of pharma scrips continued their upward march as foreign funds and operators seemed to have shifted their attention to these safe bets.

Technology counters suffered a further setback on heavy offloading by foreign institutional investors following sustained downslide in the techno-high Nasdaq composite index which was down by another 12 points yesterday.

Sentiment was further aggravated by SEBI's interim report on the stock market scam of 2000-01 which indicated the nexus between brokers, mainly Ketan Parekh, and certain foreign institutional investors in the price rigging of several companies including HFCL, Global Telesystems, Zee Telefilms, Satyam Computers, Aftek Infosys and pharma major Ranbaxy. In response, majority of these stocks closed with sharp to moderate losses on distress selling, dealers said.

The fall in Sensex was mitigated by a smart rise in index-based scrips such as Hindustan Lever, Grasim, ACC, Cipla, Dr. Reddy's Lab, Glaxo, Nestle and Tisco.

Mirroring the gloomy picture, the BSE-30 share sensitive index opened lower at 3219.84 and moved in a narrow range of 3233.49 and 3187.66 before closing at 3202.55 against 3228.60. The BSE- 100 index also dipped by 11.90 points to 1509.08 from 1520.98.ITC Bhadrachalam were in keen demand following news of its merger with ITC. The board of ITC has decided to meet on September 21 to consider the amalgamation.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Impart 'change management' to realise
           competitiveness - Kamath
Next     : Rupee ends at new low