Monday, May 30 2005 17:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The stock market snapped seven-day long gaining string and today (May 30, 2005) ended 44 points down in listless activity due to profit booking by operators amid slow down in purchases by domestic funds and negative Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) activity.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened weak at 6697.15 and later fluctuated in a small range of 6724.99 and 6642.61 before ending the day at 6663.55 as against last Friday's close of 6707.72, a net fall of 44.17 points or 0.66 per cent.

The BSE barometer had witnessed continued rally from May 19, 2005 onwards gaining by 260.72 points or 4.04 per cent.

Operators and retailers seemed to be cautious at the prevailing higher price levels and preferred to book profits in the light of relatively lower net purchases by local funds.

Indian Financial Institutions reported net purchases of Rs 765 crore in equity in the first four trading sessions last week compared to over Rs 1200 crore during the preceding week.

FIIs reported net sales of Rs 294.40 crore in the same period last week.

The market lacked any positive development and the volume was low due to limited activity.

Mid-cap stocks, which attracted keen demand from domestic institutions during last couple of weeks, too suffered a sharp setback due to selling pressure.

The BSE Mid-cap Index dipped by 23.49 points to 3237.72 and the BSE smallcap Index by 51.24 points to 4245.67.

Meanwhile, south East Asian market witnessed firm trend.

The Singapore ST ended up by 17.22 points, the Hang Seng by 130.32 points, Taiwan Index by 17.97 points and the Kospi by 8.13 points.