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Equities decline on selling pressure, low volumes; Sensex down 33 points, 2857.27

Equities reacted moderately at the Bombay Stock Exchange following speculative selling pressure from foreign institutional investors and local operators today.

Reflecting the weak trend, the 30-scrip BSE Sensex opened at 2875.06 points, touched the day's high of 2895.28 points, fell to touch the day's low of 2848.55 points before closing at 2857.27 points, showing a net loss of 33.45 points from the previous close of 2890.72 points.

The broad-based BSE-100 index also drifted lower by 12.95 points to 1277.28 points from the previous close of 1290.13 points.

According to leading BSE brokers, the FIIs made purchases in Asian Paints and HDFC while selling other pivotals.

The Life Insurance Corporation made good buying while the UTI preferred to stay away from the market, they said.

Automobile giant Telco also came under selling pressure from the FIIs as well as local punters, market sources said.

The business volume was thin and the undercurrent remained weak.

In the overseas, the Nikkei benchmark index at Tokyo fell further by 75.36 points to 12995.37 while the Hang Seng index at Hongkong and the FTSE-100 at London reported gains, sources said.

The Hang Seng registered a gain of 130.41 points at 8970.42 over the previous close while the FTSE-100 advanced by 1.6 per cent soon after the opening, they added.

Commenting on the bearish phase, BSE brokers said that the market is still reeling under the UTI fiasco, in spite of repeated assurance by the Centre of full support in case of crisis-like situation.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices eased by 2.66 and 0.91 points to 298.10 and 117.36 points from the previous close of 300.76 and 118.27 points respectively.

Among the issues, Asian Paints declined by Rs 1.10 to Rs 272.60, Bajaj Auto Rs 2.25 to Rs 560, BHEL Rs 6.90 to Rs 225, BSES Rs 2.10 to Rs 157.00, Castrol down by Rs 19.50 to Rs 591.25, Dr Reddy's Rs 2.75 to Rs 473.25, Grasim Rs 5.30 to Rs 144, Hero Honda Rs 8.57 to Rs 579, India Rayon Rs 2.70 to Rs 100.20, ITC Rs 10.25 to Rs 692.75, L&T dropped by Rs 5 to Rs 153, Reliance Rs 3.40 to Rs 106.10, SBI Rs 6.90 to Rs 160.50, Tisco Rs 1.35 to Rs 84.25 and Zee Telefilms Rs 15.50 to Rs 610.75.

Among the gainers, Glaxo earned by Rs 6.25 to Rs 466, Hindustan Lever by Rs 7 to Rs 1682, Hindalco Rs 8.50 to Rs 529, India Hotel Rs 4.25 to Rs 405, M&M Rs 2 to Rs 158, NIIT Rs 6.25 to Rs 1248, Pentafour Software Rs 4 to Rs 650, Ranbaxy Rs 10.50 to Rs 549.50.

Total turnover on the BSE stood at Rs 13.04 billion. Satyam Computers topped the list by registering highest turnover of Rs 2.5 billion, followed by ITC Rs 2.11 billion, Zee Telefilm Rs 1.12 billion, SBI Rs 1.06 billion and Pentafour Software Rs 952.8 million.

Hectic activity was witnessed at the other counters like Reliance (Rs 763.1 million), Infosys Technologies (Rs 566.7 million), BHEL (Rs 320.4 million), Castrol (Rs 218.8 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 198.4 million), Bajaj Auto (Rs 162.4 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 154 million), NIIT (Rs 150.6 million), Telco (Rs 143.1 million) and Sterlite (Rs 139.6 million).

UNI