Steady trend on Lyons Range

By A Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, MAY 20. The Calcutta Stock Exchange ruled fairly steady last week with share prices moving forward in the wake of fresh support which was in evidence over a broader spectrum of scrips. Buying interest was noted in both the old and new economy counters with selected ones posting perceptible gains in enlarged volume.

Attention of buyers with foreign institutional investors also among them was more in evidence in some of the leading scrips such as cement giant, ACC, Reliance and few others. These shares witnessed increased volume of business as well and in their upward journey, they dragged several others along providing for widespread gains in the specified list as the week closed.

The week as a matter of fact commenced on a hesitant note and prices early gave ground sharply under the weight of some nervous selling induced by the decision of the regulator - Securities and Exchange Board of India - to ban the badla trading from July but values subsequently staged a smart rally assisted by brisk buying partly credited to FIIs. Thus the ban did not impart any bearishness to the market sentiment and the first day's session closed with a modest gain the prime indicator, the sensex which in turn gave impetus to the bourses elsewhere which maintained a fine form almost throughout the week. As a matter of fact, this indicator showed fair gains at finish. The CSE's 40-share index surged to close at 1934.56 points compared to 1902.11 points.

The performance of the market during the week under review had given optimism that it will remain stable in the coming weeks. One point of note in SEBI's announcement banning badla is that the regulator has provided ample time to liquidate the current long positions of operators. In other words, the positions created before May 14 can be carried forward till September. The SEBI also notified that it will introduce rolling settlement from July 2 in more shares but this did not have any adverse impact as reflected by the market's behaviour after the announcement.

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Section  : Business
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