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B. Krishnakumar

THERE appears to be no respite to the overall weak market sentiment with the key indices registering the fourth straight day of decline. After a weak opening, the key indices — the BSE Sensex and the NSE S&P CNX Nifty — remained stuck in a narrow zone until a late bout of selling pressure in index heavyweights pulled down the indices towards the close of the trading session.

As a result, the Sensex declined below the psychological 3200-level during the day. It closed at 3190.35, just a shade above the day's low of 3186.43. This represents a decline of 35.75 points over the previous day's low of 3226.1. Nifty closed lower by 9.45 points to close at 1031.25. The sustained weakness in the share price of Reliance Industries was instrumental in inflicting damage to the indices.

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Recording its third successive day of decline, Reliance Industries dropped by Rs 4.10 on Thursday to close at Rs 284.95. The stock has registered a net decline of Rs 10.60 in the last three trading days. Along with Reliance, ITC and Tata Steel were the other key losers amongst the Sensex stocks.

The recovery in the share price of technology stocks on Wednesday turned out to be short-lived with key stocks such as Infosys Technologies, Satyam, Wipro and Digital Global seeking lower levels on Thursday. Infosys declined Rs 86.20 to close at Rs 4098.10. The share price of Wipro dropped Rs 24.85 or 1.74 per cent before closing at Rs 1399.65.

Along with BHEL and MTNL, pharmaceutical stocks such as Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's Laboratories managed to eke out marginal gain during the day. The share price of BHEL inched up Rs 2.55 to settle at Rs 208.75 while Ranbaxy's share price rose Rs 1.30 to Rs 628.10.

Sun Pharma and Lupin were other key gainers from the pharmaceutical sector. The share price of Sun Pharma logged a net gain of Rs 9.95 to settle at Rs 280.10. Trading volume rose to 1.18 lakh shares from 1.14 lakh shares recorded the day before.

In anticipation of further progress on the disinvestment front, the share price of State-owned Shipping Corporation and Engineers India managed to record significant gains in an otherwise dull market environment. The share price of Shipping Corporation went up by Rs 1.25 or 2.14 per cent to Rs 59.75 while the Engineers India stock registered a rise of Rs 9.30 or 3.86 per cent to Rs 249.95.

Crompton Greaves and Shasun Chemicals were other major gainers of the day. The share price of Cromption Greaves went up by Re 1 to Rs 59.30 while Shasun Chemicals' share price gained Rs 1.35 to Rs 87.

Led by Tata Steel, the stocks from the steel industry were pegged to lower levels during Thursday's trading. The share price of Tata Steel dropped by Rs 5 or 3.4 per cent to Rs 142.1. Jindal Iron, SAIL, Essar Steel and Jindal Steel were other major losers from the steel sector. The share price of Jindal Iron dropped by 4.5 per cent to Rs 82.7.

Trailing the overall market movement, the losers list had a fair representation of the stocks from the banking sector. Apart from the PSU giant State Bank of India, a host of other public sector banks such as Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Andhra Bank registered net decline during the day.

After touching an intra day high of Rs 96.65, the share price of Punjab National Bank closed at Rs 91.85. This represents a decline of Rs 2.25 from the previous day's close of Rs 94.1. Trading volumes in the counter jumped to 36.29 lakh shares from 14.99 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

The two-day rally in the Hughes Software counter was short-circuited on Thursday when the stock dropped Rs 3.30 to close at Rs 174.40. Trading volumes in the counter rose to 43.43 lakh shares from 29 lakh shares.

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