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Sensex slips 18 points over sanctions story; 3470.80

Pivotals suffered a marginal setback on the Bombay Stock Exchange following selling pressure by bull operators and speculators at the last day of current settlement.

The market opened on a firm note and the foreign institutional investors have made moderate purchases in select counters. But the FIIs suddenly turned cautious as soon as the Washington-based media report reached the market, saying that US has not yet taken any firm decision on the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on India for conducting nuclear tests.

Mirroring the trend, the 30-scrip BSE Sensex which crossed the 3500 mark in the opening hour, went on to touch the day's high of 3525.90, then fell below the 3500 mark to touch the day's low of 3455.35 and finally ended at 3470.80 points, showing a net loss of 17.97 points as against the previous close of 3488.77 points.

The FIIs bought select shares like Hindustan Lever, L&T, BHEL, MTNL and Colgate. The software stocks were also in the good demand, leading brokers said.

The marketmen also attributed weak trading to the last day of settlement. They said that most of the marketmen were busy in squaring up their positions.

The Washington-datelined report states that US State Department spokesman James Rubin said, ''Let me be very clear. We are seeking authority to waive sanctions. There has not been a decision by the US to eliminate the sanctions imposed as a result of the India and Pakistani tests in May.

The broadbased BSE-100 index drifted lower by 9.03 points to 1518.02 points against the previous close of 1527.05 points.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed lower by 1.93 and 0.89 points to 345.03 and 134.97 against the previous close of 346.96 and 135.86 points respectively.

Among the important issues, ACC declined by Rs 25 to Rs 1395, BHEL by Rs 3.20 to Rs 264.30, Colgate by Rs 13 to Rs 261, ITC by Rs 26.75 to Rs 697, Mahindra down by Rs 5.50 to Rs 202.70, Reliance by Rs 1.50 to Rs 149, State Bank by 2.70 to Rs 217.40, Tisco by Rs 1.40 to Rs 128 and Telco drifted lower by Rs 5.40 to Rs 167.20.

Hindustan Lever scrip gained by Rs 3 to Rs 1707, L&T by Rs 2 to Rs 237 and MTNL up by Rs 10.40 to Rs 224.10.

The total turnover on the BOLT system amounted to Rs 10.74 billion. Tobacco giant ITC topped the list of turnover by registering Rs 2.22 billion, followed by Satyam Computers Rs 1.69 billion, State Bank of India Rs 665.8 million, BHEL Rs 590.2 million, and Reliance Rs 434.4 million.

Other actively traded counters were Tata Tea (Rs 413.4 million), Pentafour Software (Rs 408.7 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 358.1 million, Castrol (Rs 300.2 million), Bajaj Auto (Rs 250.2 million), L&T (Rs 242.1 million), MTNL (Rs 238 million), Infosys Technology (Rs 191.7 million), Telco (Rs 147.8 million) and Tisco (Rs 142.5 million).

UNI