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'War' cries pull Sensex down 98 points to 4157

Growing fears of the Kargil conflict escalating into a full-scale war between India and Pakistan took its toll on the Dalal Street as equities slumped on selling pressures from foreign institutional investors or FIIs and domestic operators at the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Reflecting the downtrend, the BSE-30 Sensitive Index or the Sensex fell by 97.73 points to close at 4157.13 points as against the previous close of 4254.86 points. The Sensex opened at 4266.5, touched an intra-day high of 4285.99 and a low of 4148.76 points.

Brokers informed that the market was in a tizzy following a statement by Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani that the country should be prepared for an eventuality including a war . There were rumours in the market that a war may break out any time, which made the players to adopt a bearish outlook.

FIIs were heavy sellers in scrips like Satyam Computers, Ranbaxy Labs, L &T, Telco, SBI and Sterlite Industries. Domestic Financial Institutions also sold pivotal at high rates to book profits at those levels, brokers said.

Mirroring the bearish mood, the BSE-100 Index ended 32.96 points lower at 1789.90 from the previous close of 1822.86.

The BSE-200 Index closed at 409.94 as against the previous closing of 415.98, showing a net loss of 6.04 points. The Dollex index closed 2.51 points lower at 157.84.

Satyam Computers ended at Rs 1,225, Infosys Technologies at Rs 3,450, Telco at Rs 205, ACC at Rs 180, Tisco at Rs 140 and L&T at Rs 292.

UNI

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