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Firm trend at BSE, NSE

The indices gained smartly on both the exchanges, but the business volumes recorded sharp decline compared to the previous week.

The market opened on firm note and continued the same trend till Tuesday, and though it suffered a setback on Wednesday, it later ended on higher note on Friday. Thursday was a holiday on account of Christmas.

According to marketmen, there was a mild reaction to the South Korean financial crisis in the Indian bourses, as the FIIs took cautious approach. However, they continued their buying in the next trading session.

Reflecting the trend, the BSE Sensitive Index closed at 3633.38, by registering smart gain of 92.47 points over the previous week's close of 3540.91. The BSE-100 index gained by 38.79 points to 1574.93 against the previous close of 1536.14 points.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed higher by 8.89 and 3.73 points to 351.18 and 149.00 against the previous close of 342.29 and 145.27 points.

The total turnover on the BSE eroded by Rs 5.2 billion to Rs 31 billion as against last week's turnover of Rs 36.2 billion.

Equities registered remarkable gains on Monday on following sustained speculative activity coupled with sizeable purchases by FIIs, lifting the BSE Sensex up by 76 points in a day. The Sensex rallied smartly to the day's high of 3629.42, before closing at 3616.34 points.

The Sensex firmed up on the next day and added another 24 points to 3641.11 points. Before the close of the week, it had gained by another 26 points 3633.38 points.

The BSE this year reduced its traditional weeklong Christmas holiday to one day and the market remained open throughout the week except on December 25.

On the National Stock Exchange, the Nifty index gained by 33.05 points to 1061.45 points over the previous week's close of 1028.40 points during the same week.

The Dollar NSE-50 (Defty) index firmed up by 30.00 points to 939.15 points over the previous week's close of 909.15 points. The Midcap index registered gain of 25.20 points to 1169.35 points as against last week's finish at 1144.15 points.

The NSE announced a change in the market timings with effect from December 26, 1997. The market will now open at 0930 hours IST and close at 1600 hours IST without any break, while on auction day, it will close at 1530 hours IST. The auction market will open at 1645 hours IST.

It may be recalled the country's largest exchange has forced to its timings after the failure of the satellite Insat 2B. The NSE shifted its VSATs to Insat 2A and it has now completed the shifting of all VSATs, the exchange authorities said.

UNI