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Nifty drifts lower, loses 15 points

Stocks prices declined further on the National Stock Exchange today following continued selling pressure from foreign institutional investors and speculators.

Reflecting the downtrend, the NSE-50 Index opened at 1151.45 points (day's high), declined to the day's low of 1122.55 points and later ended at 1136.65 points, netting a loss of 15.00 points over the previous close of 1151.65 points.

Similarly, the Midcap Index drifted further lower by 14.25 points to 1270.55 points as against the previous close of 1284.80 points.

The total turnover on the NSE reported during the day was at Rs 24.9 billion.

Tobacco giant ITC stood first in the list of turnover by registering highest turnover of Rs 11.8 billion, followed by Reliance Rs 6.4 billion, Tata Tea Rs 1.6 billion, SBI Rs 1.5 billion, ACC Rs 369.7 million and TISCO Rs 354.4 million.

Hectic activity was observed at the other counters like Castrol Rs 256.3 million, TELCO Rs 238.4 million, L&T Rs 228.4 million, Bajaj Auto Rs 220.6 million, MTNL Rs 227.8 million, BHEL Rs 171.6 million, Hind Lever Rs 158 million, LML Rs 139.2 million, ICICI Rs 71.2 million, Dr Reddy Rs 65.3 million, Rel Cap Rs 56.4 million, Colgate Rs 50.8 million, Satyam Comp Rs 46.2 million, Infosys Tech Rs 41.2 million, Escorts Rs 39.5 million, BSES Rs 37.8 million, M&M Rs 35.4 million, Arvind Mills Rs 32.7 million and Digital Equip Rs 29.8 million.

The top five gainers on the NSE were EIH, M&M, Indian Hotel, IPCL and Cochin Refin. The top five losers were ITC, GE Ship, L&T, Arvind Mill and ICICI.

The wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trades worth Rs 4 billion. The 10.85 per cent government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs 68 million at a weighted yield of 9.96 per cent. The 364 days T bill maturing on June 19, 1998, was traded for Rs 20 million at a weighted yield of 9.77 per cent.

UNI