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Settlement ends on a weak note; Nifty down six points, 841.75

Pivotals declined further at the National Stock Exchange following selling pressure from foreign institutional investors on the last day of a weekly trading cycle today.

Reflecting the weak trend, S&P CNX Nifty index opened at 850.05 points, touched the day's high of 851.55 points, fell to the day's low of 840.75 points before closing at 841.75 points, showing a net loss of 5.80 points from the previous close of 847.55 points.

The CNX Nifty Junior drifted lower by 5.10 points to 1419.25 points as against the previous close of 1424.35 points.

S&P CNX Defty declined by 4.75 points to 687.55 points from the previous close of 692.30 points.

S&P CNX-500 and CNX Midcap -200 have also eased by 3.30 and 2.01 points to 576.82 and 515.60 points as against the previous close of 580.12 and 517.61 points respectively.

About 371 scrips advanced, 617 declined and 126 remained unchanged. About 20 securities hit their price bands today.

The total turnover reported on the NSE was Rs 13.66 billion, which came from trading of 59.96 million shares in 196,649 trades. Value of debentures traded stood at Rs 7.7 million.

Satyam Computers posted highest turnover of Rs 3.37 billion, followed by ITC Rs 1.33 billion, Pentafour Software Rs 1.12 billion and Reliance Rs 837.7 million.

Other actively traded scrips were Telco (Rs 781 million), SBI (Rs 634.4 million), Software Solutions Integrated (Rs 452.9 million), HCL-HP (Rs 339.6 million), Tisco (Rs 302.5 million), Zee Telefilm (Rs 270.7 million), Mastek (Rs 254.3 million), ACC Rs 246.5 million), MTNL (Rs 195.6 million), Tata Tea (Rs 173.7 million), Infosys Tech (Rs 151.5 million), Glaxo (Rs 149 million), L&T (Rs 125.7 million), Sqruare D Software (Rs 115.4 million), Silverline (Rs 107.9 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 102.6 million), Hoechst (Rs 66.1 million), BHEL (Rs 65.8 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 61.4 million) and LML (Rs 58 million).

The top gainers were Glaxo which closed at Rs 563 (544), HDFC Bank Rs 53.50 (Rs 52.50), Great Eastern Shipping Rs 23.70 (Rs 23,40), India Hotels Rs 434 (Rs 429,10) and Smithkline Rs 491 (Rs 486).

While the losers included Grasim which closed at Rs 151.30 (Rs 156.90), BHEL Rs 248.25 (Rs 256.35), Hindalco Rs 525 (Rs 541.75), East India Hotels Rs 247.15 (Rs 255) and Tata Chemicals Rs 86.70 (Rs 89.45).

The FIIs were net-sellers and reported net sales worth Rs 58 million. The domestic institutional investors were the net buyers and bought shares worth Rs 45.1 million.

Meanwhile, the wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trades worth Rs 4.40 billion. The 11.40 per cent government loan maturing in 2000 was traded for Rs 600 million at a weighted yield of 11.32 per cent. The 364 day treasury-bill maturing on November 19, 1999 was traded for Rs 800 million at a weighted yield of 10.49 per cent.

Commercial paper of Grasim Industries maturing on February 8, 1999 was traded for Rs 50 million at a yield of 10.47 per cent. One repo trade worth Rs 50 million was traded for Rs 50 million at a yield of 10.47 per cent.

One repo trade worth Rs 50 million was traded at 8.45 per cent for a repo term of ten days.

UNI

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