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Buying support eludes market, equities decline further; Nifty down 12 points, 812.45

The downtrend continued unabated on the National Stock Exchange as equities declined further due to lack of buying support from institutional investors today.

Reflecting the bearish phase, the S&P CNX Nifty opened at 823.30 points, touched the day's high of 824.65 points, fell to the day's low of 810.30 points before closing at 812.45 points, showing a net loss of 12 points from the previous close of 824.45 points.

CNX Nifty Junior finished lower by 16.40 points to 1378.25 points as against the previous close of 1394.65 points while the S&P CNX Defty closed lower by 10.10 points to 661.95 points from the previous close of 672.05 points.

S&P CNX-500 and CNX Midcap-200 declined by 7.59 and 4.84 points to 557.97 and 502.15 points as against the previous close of 565.56 and 506.99 points respectively.

Total turnover on the NSE reported during the day was Rs 12.50 billion which came from the trading of 58.53 million shares in 187,998 trades. Debentures traded were valued at Rs 4.26 million.

In all, 305 scrips advanced, 570 declined and 129 unchanged while 14 securities hit their price bands today.

Satyam Computers topped the list of turnover by registering highest turnvoer of Rs 1.90 billion, followed by ITC Rs 1.39 billion, Zee Telefilms Rs 1.17 billion, Pentafour Software Rs 1.01 billion and Reliance Rs 988.5 million.

Other actively traded counters were Telco (Rs 968.5 million), SBI new (Rs 699.6 million), HCL-HP (Rs 627.7 million), Tata Tea (Rs 396.4 million), Software Solutions Integrated (Rs 396.1 million), Castrol (Rs 366.9 million), MTNL (Rs 228.6 million), Tisco (Rs 227.5 million), ACC (Rs 217.3 million), BHEL (Rs 143.4 million), L&T (Rs 112.3 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 89.8 million), Glaxo (Rs 80 million), Silverline Industries (Rs 72.6 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 72.1 million), Sterlite (Rs 68 million), Infosys Technologies (Rs 66.4 million), Square-D Software (Rs 48.1 million) and Digital Equipment (Rs 42.1 million).

Among the gainers, Smithkline which closed at Rs 499.80 (Rs 496), Reliance Petroleum Rs 170.5 (Rs 169.5), Asian Paints Rs 296.95 (Rs 296.45) and Tata Tea Rs 297 (Rs 296.50).

The losers included Gujarat Ambuja Cement Rs 209.70 (Rs 221.30), IPCL Rs 50 (Rs 52.75), IDBI Rs 35.30 (Rs 37.15), Telco Rs 115.50 (Rs 120.75 ), ICICI Rs 42.90 (Rs 44.80).

The foreign institutional investors have emerged as net sellers and reported sales worth Rs 130.7 million. The domestic institutional investors and mutual funds too net sellers at Rs 66 million.

The wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trades worth Rs 2.08 billion. The zero coupon government bond maturing in 1999 was traded for Rs 450 million at a weighted yield of 9.55 per cent. The 12.75 per cent ICICI Bond maturing in 1999 was traded for Rs 250 million at a weighted yield of 12.71 per cent.

The commercial papers of ACC Limited and Pidilite Industries Limited maturing on February 9, 1999 and February 3, 1999 respectively were traded for Rs 50 million each at a yield of 10.50 per cent.

UNI

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