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Asian stocks take NSE down with it

Pivotals fell sharply on the National Stock Exchange following heavy bull liquidation by institutional investors and upcountry operators.

Marketmen attributed the bearish phase to the record fall in the Asian stock markets and continuous lowering of Asian currencies in the world market.

Reflecting the trend, the NSE-50 nifty index opened at 1,082.05 (the day's high), declined sharply to 1,054.00 and recovered marginally to close at 1,057.75 as against the previous close of 1082.40 points.

Similarly, the NSE-50 (defty) index lost 22.45 points to touch the 924.55 mark over the previous close of 947.00. The midcap index dropped sharply by 32.95 points to 1199.95 as against the previous 1232.90 points.

The total turnover reported during the day was Rs 15.18 billion.

ITC stood first in the list of turnover by registering Rs 6.07 billion, followed by SBI (Rs 1.82 billion), Tata Tea (Rs 1.66 billion), Reliance (Rs 1.37 billion) and Castrol (Rs 512.4 million).

Hectic activity was observed at other counters like L&T (Rs 412.4 million), Hind Lever (Rs 367 million), Tisco (Rs 270.5 million), Telco (Rs 254.5 million), BPL Ltd (Rs 237.5 million), ACC (Rs 201.1 million), Glaxo (Rs 189.7 million), Corp Bank (Rs 157.7 million), BHEL (Rs 128.6 million), MTNL (Rs 120.5 million), ICICI (Rs 117.7 million), Rel Petro (Rs 94.5 million), Rel Cap (Rs 71.7 million), Bajaj Auto (Rs 56.3 million), LML Ltd (Rs 46.5 million), Burr Wel (Rs 45.9 million), Colgate (Rs 38.7 million), Infosys Tech (Rs 38.3 million), IPCL (Rs 36.1 million) and Inger (Rs 35.4 million).

Among the gainers Guj Amb Cem upped by 0.61 per cent to Rs 280.00 while Ranbaxy moved up by 0.01 per cent to Rs 699.80.

Among the losers MRPL drifted lower by 6.02 per cent to Rs 20.30, Ashok Leyland by 5.54 per cent to Rs 41.80, IPCL by 4.94 per cent to Rs 72.10, Glaxo by 4.88 per cent to Rs 390.25 and Thermax to Rs 200.50, losing by 4.84 per cent.

The wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trades worth Rs 3.83 billion. The 10.85 per cent government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs 420 million at a weighted yield of 10.69 per cent.

The 12.59 per cent government loan maturing in 2004 was traded for Rs 610 million at a weighted yield of 11.10 per cent.

The zero coupon government bond maturing in 2000 was traded for Rs 250 million at a weighted yield of 10.72 per cent.

Meanwhile, share prices also registered a moderate decline at the Over The Counter exchange of India following speculative selling pressure.

The OTC composite index opened at 110.16 points, touched the day's high of 110.73 points, declined to the day's low of 108.97 and finally ended at 108.97 points, showing a net loss of 1.19 points over the previous close of 110.16 points.

UNI