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Volatile trading keeps Bombay shares down; Sensex 4931, Nifty at 1444, rupee 43.40 Vs $

The Bombay Stock Exchange opened on a volatile note on Monday morning. The Sensex was at 4945, up 61 points or almost one per cent at 1330 hours IST over Friday's close. Dealers said the market opened to volatile trading, which was followed by profit-booking. Accordingly, the benchmark BSE Sensex swung wildly, opening at 4930.81, surged toward the 5,000 mark, touched 4971.88, but dived to 4853.83 on profit-booking before rallying again to 4945 at 1315 hours IST.

The Sensex closed at 4931, up 47 points or 0.96 per cent.

Blue chips like Glaxo, ITC,Gujarat Ambuja, Hindustan Lever, BHEL, Ranbaxy and BHEL. NIIT (Rs 2575.50) hit the lower limit of circuit-breaker. Dealers attributed it to discouraging results for the quarter ended September 1999. Infosys Technologies, another software major, crashed from a high of Rs 7,900 to Rs 7,200 in quick time. Other pivotals were relatively steady on fresh buying.

A mixed trend was witnessed in the software and pharmaceuticals counters. Dealers attributed the volatility to the fact that today is the last day of the weekly settlement at the National Stock Exchange and the first day of a new settlement at the BSE. Fresh positions are not expected to be taken.

At the National Stock Exchange, the S&P CNX Nifty moved in a narrow range before closing at 1444, down six points from the closing level of Friday.

At the inter-bank foreign exchange market, the Indian rupee closed at 43.40 to a US dollar, up two paise from Friday's close of 43.42.

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