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Operators square up, pivotal ease; US men's visit to Pak raises fresh hopes of peace in Kashmir; Sensex down 8 points to 4111.77

Pivotals eased on selling pressure prompted by squaring up of outstanding positions by operators at the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Mirroring the trend, the BSE-30 Sensitive Index (Sensex) slid by 7.96 points to close at 4111.77 from the previous close of 4119.73. Opening at 4120.56, the Sensex witnessed a high and low of 4182.74 and 4101.21 respectively.

The foreign insitutional investors sold index-based scrips at higher levels, but brisk buying by domestic financial institutions arrested any major fall, brokers said.

The Pakistan visit of US commander-in-chief of the Central Command, General Anthony Zinni, and deputy assistant secretary, Gibson Lampher, to persuade Islamabad to pull back its forces from the Indian side of the Line of Control, had soothed the sentiment.

Brokers felt that international pressure may eventually force Pakistan to relent and avoid the conflict from escalating.

Marketmen hope that if the situation improves, the equities may rebound on Monday, when the new trading cycle starts.

The BSE-100 index fell by 5.57 points to close at 1769.89 from the previous close of 1775.46.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices ended at 404.94 and 155.38, showing a net loss of 1.54 and 0.80 points respectively.

Reliance ended at Rs 177, Satyam Computers at Rs 1,227, Infosys Technologies at Rs 3,650, Telco at Rs 209 and SBI at Rs 138. UNI

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