Sensex tumbles by 458.06 pts, Nifty down 2.39 pc

Mumbai, Feb 20: The Sensex nosedived by 458.06 points today to close at 17,617.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on sustained profit booking interest across the sector amid high volatility, sparked off by negative cues from global markets.

Resuming the day with a negative gap at 17,991.29, the Sensex slid to a day's low at 17,505.56, plunged by over 570 points from its previous close of 18,075.66 on increased selling interest in the afternoon trading session. Extending the sentiments, the broader based Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped by 164.50 points in late trade to hit a day's low at 5116.30, before ending-up with a loss of 126.39 points or 2.39 per cent at 5154.45.

Asian markets suffered a setback as oil prices hit a record high of over USD 100 a barrel, while European markets declined extending the weak sentiments. Back home, the market breadth was extremely weak.

Reality, bank, metal and auto indices on BSE created a pull-down pressure as they slipped by 2.5 to 3.5 per cent to end the day in the red. Meanwhile, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices closed even over one per cent down from their previous close. They registered a total turnover on BSE at Rs 5112 crore.

Lanko Infra and Jaiprakash associates were down by 8.47 and 7.97 per cent respectively, to become major losers of the day, followed by Reliance Capital, which ended down by 7.68 per cent, Tata Steel and Maruti slumped by about 5 per cent each and WBHEL and Tata Motors dropped by 4.5 per cent each to Rs 2,124 and Rs 706 respectively.

Banks stocks also rallied southward on reports of few public sector banks including Union Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India further extending lending rates cut. Canara bank and Indian Bank slipped by over 6 per cent, while private bank IndusInd Bank tumbled by 6.21 per cent. ICICI Bank and HDFC declined by nearly 4 per cent to end the day in red.

Mahindra&Mahindra and Reliance Communications slipped by 3.5 pc each and Reliance declined by about 3 pc.

However, Haxaware gained by 7.39 per cent, followed by Bosch, Bombay Dyeing and Tata Power up by 4.51, 4.10 and 3.12 per cent respectively. TCS moved up over one per cent, Infosys, Bajaj and Satyam also finished with gains today.

UNI