Indian shares fell 0.23 percent on Thursday in choppy trade as investors unwound positions at the expiry of the monthly futures contract, dealers said. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index fell 21.19 points to 9,236.28, snapping two straight days of gains. "The market remained highly volatile, as key indices swung between positive and negative zones intra-day," said an analyst with equity research firm Sharekhan.
Shares of fraud-hit Satyam fell 5.6 percent or 10.1 rupees to 49.85 as investors locked in gains, even as the company is set to announce funding details to secure its future, following a massive accounting scam. Satyam has risen nearly 80 percent in the past week from 27.75 rupees. In early January, company founder B. Ramalinga Raju admitted he had created a fake bank balance of more than one billion dollars for the Hyderabad-based software services firm.
In Thursday's trade, gainers led losers 1,262 to 1,148 on turnover of 38.25 billion rupees (782 million dollars). Last year, overseas funds were net sellers of Indian stocks, disposing of 13.13 billion dollars worth of shares in 2008. India's top property firm DLF fell 12.7 rupees or 7.15 percent to 165 while India's third largest software exporter Wipro fell 7.8 rupees or 3.3 percent to 226.55.