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Mixed trend at BSE; weak sentiments at NSE

An uncertain political climate at the Centre, coupled with confusion over the likely alliance partner of Bharatiya Janata Party held back speculators as well as foreign institutional investors from making large scale commitments during the week, leading brokers said. They added that the new government's economic policies will put a break on the flow investable funds into the stock market.

Mirroring the uptrend, the BSE-30 Sensitive index gained marginally by 01.88 to 3716.50 points as against the previous week's close of 3714.62 points.

However, BSE-100 National index declined by 04.22 points to 1602.95 points over the last week's close of 1607.17 points.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices also came down by 01.51 and 0.68 points to 354.34 and 149.31 points as compared to last week's close of 355.85 and 149.99 points respectively.

Both the exchanges were closed on Friday on account of the 'Holi' festival, and the total turnover of four days at BSE was Rs 48.29 billion.

The market opened with strong indication that the BJP-led combine was set to form the government which charged the sentiment on Dalal Street, pushing the Sensex by 99 points in a single day. The FIIs reportedly bought large quantity of Reliance Industries Limited, and Indian PetroChemical Limited shares.

Later, uncertainty prevailed at the Centre over the delay in giving a supporting letter to the BJP for forming the government which demoralised the sentiment of investors including FIIs during the remaining part of the week.

The major development during the week was the joint venture of multinational Morgan Stanley with JM Financial along with Tata Steel modernising its plant at Jamshedpur. Three merchant banking firms -- Birla Global Finance, Apple Finance, and Lloyds Finance -- decided to float separate subsidiaries.

Both exchanges have extended their trading time for half-an-hour following INSAT connectivity problem.

At the fag end of the week, the securities and exchange board of India ordered criminal prosecution against Hindustan Lever Limited Chairman Keki Dadiseth, former chairman S M Datta, and three other executive directors for insider trading in the shares of Brooke Bond/Lipton India Limited, prior to the announcement of its merger with the latter in April 1996.

The NSE-50 index finished at 1077.50 points suffering a loss of 03.95 points as against the previous week's close of 1081.45 points.

The Dollar NSE-50 index closed at 945.10 points over the last week's close of 949.10 points losing 04.00 points. The Midcap index settled down at 1230.10 points decreasing 01.05 points as compared to 1231.15 points of previous week.

The total turnover on NSE during the four days of trading was Rs 64.34 billion.

UNI