Markets tumble on fuel price hike

Mumbai, June 4 : The markets slided in reaction to the fuel price hike announced by the Central Government today with Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex falling by 447.77 points or 2.81% to 15,514.79 level and the National Stock Exchange's Nifty sliding by 2.86 per cent or 134 points to 4581.90.

The Central Government has stated that inflation may now go up by 0.5 percent.

The BSE's total market capitalization was recorded at Rs 5,101,962.02 crore, down Rs 9,822.81 crore from Rs 5,271,851.60 crore on Tuesday.

Realty, metals and power stocks suffered the most. Small caps and mid caps also bore the brunt of fuel price hike.

BPCL (down 8.47percent), Tata Power Company (7.50 percent), Cairn India (6.74 percent), Sterlite Industries (6.18 percent), Suzlon Energy (5.63 percent), Ambuja Cements (5.52 percent) were severely hit with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) being the only exception recording a 5.31 per cent rise

The BSE Metal Index went down by 4.98 per cent and the BSE Auto Index fell by 3.31 per cent.

The Central Government has raised the price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre and that of diesel by Rs 3 a litre. The price of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) also has been increased by Rs 50 a cylinder. There will be no increase in the price of kerosene.

The prices will be applicable from midnight today.

Meanwhile, Custom duty on crude oil has been abolished. Custom duty on petroleum and diesel from has been slashed to 2.5 per cent from 7.5 per cent. The custom duty on other petroleum products has been reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will address the nation explaining the reason for the fuel price hike at 8:30 p.m. today.

This is the second price hike in a period of four months .It was last increased on February 14.

ANI