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Sensex down by 39.72 points

Being the last day of weekly settlement, most of the operators were busy squaring up their positions. Marketmen commented positively on the Securities and Exchange Board of India's decision regarding lifting of the ban on short sales from July 6 and expected some market movements in the next week.

The foreign funds were not very active in the market but domestic institutions like UTI, LIC, and GIC picked up bluechip stocks, dealers said.

Reflecting the trend, the BSE Sensex opened on 3214.42, which happens to be the day's high and fell below the 3200 mark to touch the day's low of 3155.13 points and finally ended at 3168.82 points, netting a loss of 39.72 points against the previous close of 3208.54 points.

The BSE-100 index declined by 14.93 points to 1391.82 points against the previous close of 1406.75. The BSE-200 and Dollex indices also closed lower by 3.34 and 1.62 to 317.52 and 123.78 points against the previous close of 320.86 and 125.40 points respectively.

Various announcements made by petrochem major Reliance Industries chairman Dhirubhai Ambani did not have any positive impact on the RIL scrip on the BSE. The scrip instead closed lower at 142.70 against the previous close of 145.30.

Cement major ACC declined by Rs 13.75 to Rs 1211, tobacco giant ITC dropped by Rs 5.75 to Rs 640.75, State Bank drifted lower by Rs 1.40 to Rs 208, Telco moved down by Rs 8.30 to Rs 166.70, and steel major Tisco down by Rs 2.90 to Rs 123.10. Automobile giant Bajaj Auto registered a smart gain of Rs 9.00 to Rs 573.50.

The total business volume on the BSE declined to Rs 6.7 billion from yesterday's turnover of Rs 7.2 billion.

ITC registered highest turnover at Rs 1.3 billion, followed by Satyam Comp Rs 602.6 million, Reliance Rs 572.4 million, Zee Telefilm Rs 385.6 million and State Bank Rs 369.3 million.

Other actively traded scrips were Castrol (Rs 367 million), Hindalco (Rs 156.7 million), Bajaj Auto (Rs 155.2 million), Pentafour S (Rs 150.7 million), Tata Tea (Rs 143.9 million), Telco (Rs 133.3 million), Tisco (Rs 130.2 million), Hind Lever (Rs 108 million), Sterlite (Rs 104.6 million) and ACC (Rs 102 million).

UNI