Tuesday, February 15 2005 17:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The market today (Feb 15, 2005) ended by nine points down after a firm start as operators and retail investors continued to book profits at higher levels ahead of the Union Budget to be presented on February 28.

In lacklustre activity, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index, which opened on a firm note at 6694.79, later fluctuated in a narrow range of 6694.79 and 6640.42 before ending the day at 6670.06 as against yesterday's close of 6679.33, a net loss of 9.27 points or 0.14 per cent.

Market players seemed to be in no mood to create fresh positions at the prevailing levels in the absence of any clear indications on the Budget proposals, brokers said.

The market is expected to witness lacklustre activity till presentation of the Budget at the month-end, they added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) too were selective buyers making relatively low investments during the day. FIIs reported net investments of Rs 249.40 crore on Friday, taking the total net purchases during last week to Rs 869.70 crore.

South-east Asian markets also witnessed dull activity with the NIKKIE ending up by 14.29 points and the Hang Seng down by 21.40 points at close.

Key blue chip counters including RIL, SBI, Tata Steel, Satyam Computers, ONGC, HPCL, BHEL, Bajaj Auto, Wipro, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Hero Honda and Hindalco registered losses due to selling pressure.

However, Grasim, Dr Reddy's, Infosys Tech, ICICI Bank and Bharti Tele-Venture showed moderate gains.