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Five days of hope and despair; Sensex 2908.10, Nifty 849.80

Depressed sentiment continued for the second consecutive week on both the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange due to several reasons like political instability and economic crisis in Russia, statement of All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalitha on reviewing support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre and the slump in share prices in southeast Asian and other markets.

The overwhelming response to Resurgent India Bonds changed the market sentiment on Tuesday but could not sustain it for long.

The turmoil in the Russian economy founds its echo in Asian markets as Asia's key indices plummeted to 10-year low.

The Japanese 225-issue Nikkei stock average dropped to below 14,000 points level which is lowest in last 12 years.

In India, the BSE Sensitive Index closed this week at 2908.10 points showing a loss of 14.51 points as against the previous week's close of 2922.61 points.

The broadbased BSE National Index dropped below the psychological barrier of 1300 mark and finished at 1299.12 points, losing 09.70 points over the last week's close of 1308.82 points.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices declined by 01.49 and 0.50 points to 303.26 and 118.69 points as compared to previous week's close of 304.75 and 119.19 points respectively.

The total turnover on BSE during four-day trading decreased by Rs 10.29 billion to Rs 40.49 billion as against previous week's five-day turnover of Rs 50.78 billion.

Both the markets were closed on August 26 on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.

The market opened this week on a positive note, as it was reported that State Bank of India's Resurgent India Bonds had mobilised more than $ 4 billion, which led to a bull run in the capital for next day also.

However, on the last two days, equities suffered setback due to hectic selling pressure by foreign institutional investors and bear operators.

During the week, former chairman of Raasi Cements B V Raju alongwith an associate company Kalahastheeswar Finance had revised the open offer price to shareholders of Sri Vishnu Cement from Rs 25 to Rs 55 per share.

Top gainers were ITC that rose by Rs 17.75 to Rs 623.25, Bajaj Auto up Rs 22 to Rs 656.25, BHEL up Rs 7.10 to Rs 224.10 and Hindustan Lever hardened by Rs 6.75 to Rs 1604.25.

Among the losers were ACC declined by Rs 51.25 to Rs 1041.75, followed by Century that was down Re 1 to Rs 32. Other losers were: Dr Reddy's down Rs 48 to Rs 437.25, L&T by Rs 2.60 to Rs 172, Reliance Industries by Rs 8.20 to Rs 107.30, Satyam Computers by Rs 22 to Rs 470, Siemens by Rs 16.90 to Rs 186.90, State Bank by Rs 2 to Rs 181, Tata Engineering by Rs 12 to Rs 128 and Tata Steel decreased by Rs 5.10 to Rs 90.95.

The share prices at the NSE also declined marginally. The S&P Nifty Index closed at 849.80 points losing 05.65 points as against the previous week's close of 855.45 points.

The CNX Nifty came down to 1475.35 from 1480.15 points of last week decling 04.80. S&P CNX Defty settled down at 692.25 over the last week's close of 696.25 points losing 04.00, S&P CNX-500 quoted at 587.43 points as against previous week's close of 588.96 points losing 01.53 points and CNX Midcap 200 drifted lower to 520.64 points over the last week's close of 525.25 points, decreasing 04.61 points.

The total turnover on the NSE of four-day trading declined by Rs 10.71 billion to Rs 50.30 billion as against the previous week's five-day turnover of Rs 61.01 billion.

UNI