Saturday, March 19 2005 12:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: After hitting new historic peaks during last week, the Sensex fell back by 2.24 per cent as investors turned cautious with long outstanding positions and the barometer approaching the psychologically important 7000-mark amid some negative factors.

The Sensex had moved within a striking distance of the crucial 7000-level, when it scaled the all-time peaks of 6954.86 during last week (March 9).

In the week to March 19, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index witnessed highly volatile trade in a wide range of 6882.23 and 6595.53 before ending the week at 6700.34 as against last week's close of 6853.73, a net loss of 153.39 points.

Operators, which reportedly were holding long outstanding positions, adopted a cautious approach by booking profits in several blue chip counters throughout the week.

Adverse factors like high crude oil price that is likely result in a hike in prices of petroleum products and dramatic slowdown in Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) activity caused concerns among investors.

FIIs, which have pumped in massive funds during February and in the first two week of this month, reported net investments of Rs 2716.90 crore in the first four days of the week, including a block deal of Rs 2467 crore in Bharti Tele-Venture on March 14. FIIs were net sellers on March 15 and 16.

Oil prices hit the all-time record high of $ 57.6 a barrel on Thursday (Mar 17, 2005) and closed at $ 56.7 yesterday (Mar 18, 2005).

The market found some relief from a statement by International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Rodrigo De Rato on India's reforms agenda at the weekend in the face of reports of a strong possibility of sharp hike in petrol and diesel prices shortly.

Rato has lauded the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government's reforms agenda saying they would result in India attracting more investments, both domestic and foreign.

Meanwhile, domestic institutions made sizeable purchases to the tune of Rs 251.66 crore in the first four days.

ICICI Bank was exceptionally strong in index-based stocks gaining by 5.86 per cent. The bank has announced yesterday that it had converted 3.84 crore local shares into American Depository Receipts (ADRs) at $ 21.11 each, in a $ 405 million transaction. One ADR is equivalent to two underlying local shares.

Among other indices, the broad-based BSE-100 Index dipped by 94.13 points to end the week at 3603.75 from previous weekend's close of 3697.88.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply down at 900.19 and 343.04 at the weekend compared to last weekend's close of 922.03 and 352.25 respectively.

The BSE-500 Index dropped sharply by 69.65 points to close the week at 2837.20 from last weekend's close of 2906.85 and the Dollex-30 finished lower at 1259.09 from 1291.17.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty and the S&P CNX Defty tumbled by 44.85 points and 38.75 points to end the week at 2109.15 and 1673.90 as against last weekend's close of 2154.00 and 1712.65 respectively. The CNX Nifty Junior fell sharply by 166.70 points to conclude the week at 4454.85 from 4621.55 at the preceding weekend.

During the week, the volume of business on the BSE and the NSE was Rs 16,086 crore and Rs 25,620 crore compared to the last week's turnover of Rs 14,689 crore and Rs 28,522 crore respectively.