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Samvat ends, hopes begin as BSE revamps Sensex

A downtrend continued for the yet another week on the Bombay Stock Exchange with Sensex falling below the psychologically important 2900 mark due to moderate losses in the pivotals following selling pressure by speculators.

The 30-scrip BSE Sensex came down by 68.55 points at 2848.11 points from the last Friday's close of 2916.66 during the week ended October 16.

This was the last week of the Samvat 2054. The market will reopen on Monday for moorat trading which would be conducted between 17:30 and 18:30 hrs.

The Unit Trust of India fiasco continues to hamper the market sentiments during the week that was in spite of repeated assurances by the Centre that it will support the UTI in case of crisis like situation.

Market behaved negatively in spite of the smart half-yearly performances recorded by infotech giants Satyam Computers, Infosys Tech and NIIT.

Satyam posted a net profit of Rs 337 million while Infosys netted Rs 520.7 million during the first half year ended September 30, 1998.

Market opened on a weak note, with the Sensex registering a loss of 44 points on the first day of the new trading cycle. The downtrend continued for the second day with the Sensex losing another 40 points at 2832.03 points. However, the market staged a smart recovery on Wednesday, with the Sensex gaining by 58.69 points at 2890.72 points.

The gains were wiped out on Thursday and Friday when market recorded losses. Total turnover on the BSE also dropped sharply by Rs 200.93 billion to Rs 581.94 billion from last week's turnover of Rs 782.87 billion.

According to market sources, in view of the forthcoming Diwali Holidays, market players did not wish to take positions and thus the activity in the markets was relatively dull.

Country's another leading stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange also reported lacklustre activity during the week.

The S&P CNX Nifty went down by 9.60 points at 839.50 points from the previous week's close of 849.10. The CNX Nifty Junior moved down by 60.25 points at 1422.85 points from last Friday's close of 1483.10 points.

S&P CNX Defty slid by 7.25 points at 687.45 from the previous close of 694.70 points. S&P CNX-500 dropped by 11.58 points at 578.36 from the previous week's close of 589.94 points while the CNX Midcap declined by 18.65 points at 508.99 from last Friday's close of 527.64 points.

Total turnover on the NSE also came down by Rs 6.54 billion to Rs 79.26 billion from last week's turnover of Rs 85.80 billion.

The BSE reconstructed its 30-scrip Sensex and added two infotech scrips in Infosys Technologies and NIIT alongwith Castrol and Novartis on Tuesday. While adding these four, the BSE excluded Arvind Mills, Great Eastern Shipping, SAIL and IPCL from Sensex.

These changes in the calculation of Sensex will take effect from November 16.

Among the issues, ACC went down Rs 63.25 at Rs 932, Bajaj Auto Rs 30.25 to Rs 583.00, BHEL Rs 15.50 to Rs 226, Dr Reddy's Rs 42.50, Rs 468.50, India Hotel Rs 7 to Rs 397, ITC Rs 16 to Rs 693, L&T Rs 16.20 to Rs 148.10, M&M Rs 10.90 to Rs 155.10, NIIT Rs 57.50 to Rs 1228, Reliance Rs 4.30 to Rs 105.70, SBI Rs 11 to Rs 157, Telco Rs 22.90 to Rs 103.80, Tisco Rs 9.05 to Rs 76 and Zee Telefilms moved down by Rs 65.20 to Rs 604.

Among the prominent gainers, BSES went up by Rs 1.80 to rs 154, Castrol shot up by Rs 26.75 to Rs 607, Gujarat Ambuja Cement by Rs 33.10 to Rs 188.60, Hero Honda by Rs 10 to Rs 582, Hindalco by Rs 32.75 to Rs 539.75.

UNI