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Sensex dips 11.48 points

It was a day of rumours, and a number of them such as the demolition of a place of worship which had led to police firing in Ajmer, and another firing incident in Punjab. The most wild was the breaking out of a Second Gulf War between Iraq and America in West Asia.

The BSE Sensitive index opened lower at 3408.75 points and touched a day's high of 3436.95 points. It then reached a low of 3387.32 points and finally settled at 3401.88 points, 11.48 points below its yesterday's close of 3413.36 points.

The national index declined marginally by 3.97 points to 1465.15 points as compared to yesterday's close of 1469.12 points. The BSE-200 and Dollex indices settled down at 324.67 and 139.10 points, decreasing marginally by 0.73 and 0.24 points as compared to 325.40 and 139.34 points respectively.

There was lack of adequate buying support from the FIIs as only the shares of MTNL, BHEL, and Proctor and Gamble were bought by them. Domestic buyers shied away from the usual activity as they have adopted a wait-and-watch attitude towards the general political situation in the country.

The total turnover on screen-based trading system was Rs 11 billion involving 36.4 million shares.

ITC continued to remain the top grosser with the highest turnover of Rs 4.3 billion, unmatched by the others who followed. Next was Tata Tea with a turnover of Rs 1.3 billion followed closely by Castrol India with Rs 1.1 billion. They were followed by Hind Lever at Rs 618.2 million, MTNL Rs 501 million, Reliance Rs 328.7 million, SBI Rs 316.8 million, Bajaj Auto Rs 251.6 million, HDFC Rs 156.1 million, SmithKline Ph Rs 142.5 million, TELCO Rs 128.3 million, ACC Rs 116.6 million, Glaxo Rs 96.9 million, BHEL Rs 86.7 million and Ponds India at Rs 65.2 million.

ACC lost by Rs 7.50 to Rs 1231, Bajaj Auto gained by Rs 3.25 to Rs 526.25, Bombay Dyeing lost by Re 0.20 to Rs 77.90, BSES lost by Re 0.80 to Rs 179.20, EI Hotels by Rs 1.50 to Rs 310.25, Hind Lever by Rs 13.25 to Rs 1527.

Other losers included ITC by Rs 7 to Rs 615.50, Reliance by Rs 1.30 to Rs 149.80, State Bank of India by Rs 3.20 to Rs 239.50, and Tata Steel by Rs 1.60 to Rs 121.60.

UNI