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NSE drops 33.05 points

Pivotals opened on a distinctly weak note, slid further in the mid-session and later recovered partially towards the close of trading on the National Stock Exchange.

The NSE-50 index fell by 33.05 points to 880.20 points from the previous close of 913.25 points. The dollar NSE-50 also dipped by 36.25 points to 713.60 points. The Midcap Index crashed by 51.40 points to 1209.20 points from the previous day's 1260.60 points.

The total turnover in 1,29,649 trades, involving 39.06 million shares was Rs 7.93 billlion while the debentures traded value at Rs 733,000 today.

Eighty-three securities have hit their price bands today -- 115 scrips improved, 810 declined and 47 remained unchanged.

Tobacco giant ITC continued to register the highest turnover with Rs 3.29 billion, followed by SBI (Rs 784.4 million), Reliance (Rs 697.9 million), TELCO (Rs 340.9 million), Castrol (Rs 300.9 million), Hind Lever (Rs 280.7 million), L and T (Rs 226.8 million), TISCO (Rs 152.2 million), Tata Tea (Rs 143.6 million), Infosystch (Rs 125.4 million), ACC (Rs 124.5 million), Wipro (Rs 104.6 million) and HDFC (Rs 102.7 million).

The other counters which witnessed hectic activity were Bajaj Auto (Rs 70.6 million), Satyam Comp (Rs 62.7 million), Hero Honda (Rs 52 million), MTNL (Rs 42.5 million), HDFC (Rs 42.4 million), Rel Petro (Rs 4.10 million), LML (Rs 31.9 million), Corpbank (Rs 30.9 million), Ranbaxy and BSES (Rs 29.6 million each), Sterlite 29.4 million) and Bank of Baroda (Rs 28.9 million).

IPCL topped in the gainers list with 2.20 per cent increase to Rs 51.15 , followed by Tata Power by 0.34 per cent to Rs 87.70, Hind Petro 0.3 per cent to Rs 382.60 and Andhra Valley 0.12 per cent to Rs 81.8.

On the other hand, BHEL lost by 9.48 per cent to close at Rs 216.70, followed by Ind Hotels (9.26 per cent) to Rs 396.10, Guj Amb Cem (8.92 per cent) to Rs 230.85, TELCO (8.79 per cent to Rs 167.55) and Asian Paints (8.42 per cent to Rs 208.95).

The wholesale debt market of the NSE witnessed trading worth Rs 1.06 billion. The 11.64 per cent government loan maturing in 2000 was traded for Rs 250 million at a weighted yield of 11.19 per cent and the 364 day T-bills maturing on October 9, 1998 was traded for Rs 150 million at a weighted yield of 9.18 per cent. The 15.75 per cent taxable bond issued by Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam Ltd was traded at a yield of 14.61 per cent. The turnover in Repos and debentures today were Rs 50 million and Rs 376,000 respectively.

Foreign Institutional Investors today sold shares worth Rs 262.58 million against their buying of 210.48 million, thus indicating an outflow of Rs 52.1 million from the NSE today.

UNI