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Pivotals dip on FIs' pressure; Nifty down six points, 914.50

Pivotals declined marginally on the National Stock Exchange following selling pressure by foreign institutional investors and domestic institutional investors, at the first day of current settlement today.

Reflecting the bearish mood, the S&P CNX Nifty index opened at 921.40 points, touched the day's high of 926.55 points, fell to touch the day's low of 912.60 points and later ended at 914.50 points showing a net loss of 6.30 points against the previous close of 920.80 points.

However, CNX Nifty Junior registered a moderate gain of 9.35 points to 1474.05 points against the previous close of 1464.70 points.

S&P CNX Defty and S&P CNX-500 declined by 4.80 and 1.49 points to 746.05 and 617.39 points against the previous close of 750.85 and 618.88 points respectively. The CNX Midcap-200 edged up by 2.49 points to 528.53 points against the previous close of 526.04 points.

Total turnover on the NSE rose to Rs 14.31 billion from yesterday's turnover of Rs 13.79 billion involving 56.48 million shares and 189,425 shares. Debentures' turnover was Rs 2.63 million.

According to an NSE release, 57 securities hit their price bands, 579 advanced, 391 declined and 96 remained unchanged.

The FIIs sold shares worth Rs 104.7 million against their purchases of Rs 137.6 million reporting net outflow of funds worth Rs 32.9 million. The domestic institutional investors and mutual funds made purchases worth Rs 58.3 million against their selling worth Rs 273.4 million, taking out the net funds of Rs 215 million from the market.

ITC topped the list of turnover by registering highest turnover of Rs 2.65 billion, followed by Satyam Computers Rs 2.61 billion, Zee Telefilms Rs 1.56 billion, Pentafour Software Rs 975.8 million, Reliance Rs 740.4 million.

Hectic activity was witnessed at the other counters led by SBI (Rs 724.6 million), ACC (Rs 433.2 million), Telco (Rs 364.4 million), HCL-HP (Rs 333.1 million), BHEL (Rs 264.2 million), Castrol (Rs 256 million), Tata Tea (Rs 205.8 million), MTNL (Rs 205.3 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 181.5 million), L&T (Rs 178.4 million), NIIT (Rs 176.3 million), Silverline (Rs 170.5 million), Tisco (Rs 169.8 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 150.3 million), BFL Software (Rs 118.4 million) Infosys Tech (Rs 110.2 million), Rolta (Rs 109 million), ICPL (Rs 74.6 million), NIIT DS (Rs 60.4 million) and Bata India (Rs 50.5 million).

Top five S&P CNX Nifty gainers were Ashok Leyland Rs 28.20 (26.35), East India Hotels Rs 194.30 (187.90), Telco Rs 149.05 (144.80), Grasim Rs 160.60 (156.10), TVS Suzuki Rs 499.90 (491.45).

The top losers were BHEL Rs 254.75 (262.95), HPCL Rs 325.35 (335.70), IPCL Rs 54.15 (55.80), MTNL Rs 213.85 (219.00), Glaxo Rs 427.00 (435).

The wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trades worth Rs 1.56 billion. The zero coupon government bond maturing in 2000 (III series) was traded for Rs 400 million at a weighted yield of 11.35. The 12.08 government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs 250 million at an yield of 11.55 per cent. Commercial paper of Tisco maturing on November 13, 1998 was traded for Rs 50 million at an yield of 10.90 per cent. The 364-day treasury bill maturing on November 13, 1998 was traded for Rs 50 million at a yield of 9.62 per cent.

UNI