Date:22/09/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/09/22/stories/2005092202071500.htm

Back Selling pressure grips small, mid-cap stocks

Virendra Verma

Mumbai , Sept. 21

MOST mid-cap, small-cap and penny stocks crashed today as every fourth stock traded on BSE had only sellers and no buyers.

According to BSE data, 677 stocks hit the lower circuit out of 2,648 stocks traded in today's trading. In comparison, just 61 stocks hit the upper circuit. At one point during the day, 780 stocks had hit the lower circuit.

In lower circuit there are only sellers and no buyers while in upper circuit the situation is reverse.

Brokers said today's trading had the highest numbers of stocks that had hit the lower circuit in a single day. Of these stocks, the maximum number of stocks hitting the lower circuit was from T group. A total of 378 stocks were locked in lower circuit. This was followed by stock from Z group where 100 stocks hit the lower circuit.

Panic like situation prevailed for stocks in T group shares after BSE and NSE decided to put all the stocks in this group to 5 per cent circuit limit from today.

"Many of these stocks had no fundamentals to support the rise and the warnings by stock exchanges alerted the investors who came to sell today," said a broker.