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Equities ease on selling pressure, Sensex down 37 points

MUMBAI — The Sensex has been finding very difficult to sustain above the 14,000 mark, in the past few weeks. Fresh selling is seen to have been emerging at every higher level. On the technical front, the Sensex has been moving in a trading range of 13,700 and 14,300 since the past few weeks and a breakout either way is likely to provide future direction.

The Sensex settled on a weak note tracking negative cues from global markets. It was highly volatile throughout the day's trading session. All the Asian markets were weak, while European markets were trading mixed.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.93 per cent, dragged down by worse-than-expected machinery order data, while warnings from Chinese regulators against speculative trading triggered losses in mainland China and Hong Kong. China's Shanghai Composite tumbled 3.64 per cent or 147.21 points to 3,899.18. The Hang Seng was down 0.53 per cent.

Indonesian (down 0.3 per cent lower at 2,037.78), Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (down 1 per cent to 1,346.10), Korea Composite Stock Price Index (down 1 per cent, to 1,589.37), Straits Times index (down 0.74 per cent, or 26 points, to 3,475.10), Taiwan Weighted index (down 55.53 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 7,975.03) also declined.

Back home, the BSE 30-share Sensex lost 36.53 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 13,929.33. It had opened lower at 13,948.91, but immediately advanced higher as buying resumed to strike a high of 14,023.86.

The firm opening was due to the spillover of the buying binge that had resulted in a 169.70-point rally on Monday, 14 May 2007. The benchmark index slipped to a low of 13,885.46, in early afternoon session of trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 14 points or 0.34 per cent at 4,120.30.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs4135.47 crore while the NSE F&O turnover was Rs26,910.53 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs40,161.63 crore.

The market breadth was just about positive on BSE, with 1,314 shares advancing as compared to 1,270 shares declining, while 81 shares remained unchanged The BSE Small-Cap Index closed at 7,102.88 up 0.33 per cent, while the BSE Mid-Cap Index gained 0.24 per cent to 5,955.35.

Among the Sensex pack, 18 slipped while the rest moved higher.

Frontline IT pivotals stayed weak throughout the day's trading session, as the rupee continued its upward march and was quoted at 40.83/84 against US currency in late morning deals on weak dollar overseas and sustained dollar selling by exporters, despite capital outflows.

In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the Indian unit opened strong at 40.78/80 a dollar from Monday's, May 14, 2007, close of 40.8750/8850 per dollar due to exporters dollar sales.

However, some dollar buying by oil refinery companies in later stage to mop up dollar at lower levels pushed the rupee down to 40.83/84 a dollar, still higher than the previous close.

The BSE IT index was the top loser among sectoral indices on BSE: down 1.34 per cent to 4,873.19. Satyam Computers (down 1.95 per cent to Rs452.40), was the top loser.

The BSE IT index, which has been volatile over the past few weeks, had drifted to 4,878.17 on May 102, 007, from a recent peak of 5,124.21 on May 3, 2007. It had risen a bit to 4939.40 on May 14, 2007.

A rise in the rupee directly impacts revenue and profit of IT firms, which derive a lion's share of revenue from exports to the US.

Satyam Computers, down 2.24 per cent to Rs451.05, was the top loser, with 3.77 lakh shares changing hands on the counter.

Wipro (down 1.89 per cent to Rs533.60), Infosys (down 1.66 per cent to Rs1969) and TCS (down 0.90 per cent to Rs1238) were not spared either.

ONGC lost 1.52 per cent to Rs893 after media reports stated that Iran has doubted over discovery of gas reserves by the state run oil exploration major. ONGC should give the necessary technical documents to Iran to prove its claim, which has not happened yet, the report added.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 1.48 per cent to Rs1596.45 on 6.13 lakh shares. It slipped from a high of Rs1623.25 following reports that it has got a tax benefit of Rs 376.17 crore in 2002-03 because of unreasonable concessions due to under-assessment by tax authorities, as per a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, May 14, 2007.