Festive profit taking drags BSE down

In the period leading up to Christmas holidays, markets are usually on the soft side as stockholders dispose of their shares seeking liquidity for the holiday season.

Last week, the mainstream index, the DCI, went down by 0.74 percent to close the week at 8948.21 percent, pulled down by losses in large caps Barclays, Letshego and BIHL. BIHL recorded the heaviest loss of the week, shedding 3.74 percent while Barclays lost a moderate 1.13 percent and Letshego declined by 1.59 percent. The biggest gainer of the week was from the domestic counters was Turnstar, which added on 3.33 percent. Losses were also recorded on the foreign board, with AF Diamonds shedding 24 percent to lead the losers' pack. AF Copper also lost a significant 16 percent while CIC Energy went down 13 percent.