BSE Sensex nosedives by 255.90 points

Mumbai, Sep 17: On Wednesday, Sep 17 the key benchmark Sensex crashed by 255.90 points as the bearish phase continued for the sixth consecutive day and ended in the red at 13,262.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on heavy offloading in key stocks by local operators. Similarly, the Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed negative at 4008.25 points with a loss of 66.65 points from its last finish of 4074.90.

Both the key indices of Sensex and Nifty plummeted by 1650 and 610 points respectively in the last six days. Brokers said the key heavyweight stocks plunged again and ended with sharp cut on the back of huge sell-off in financial, realty, metal, FMCG, pharma, power, capital goods and few oil stocks. Midcap and small cap stocks also took huge beating on the bourses. However, cement, few auto and technology stocks gained. Benchmark indices had tried to bounce back in early trade but failed to sustain gains.

Markets remained under pressure throughout the day. All BSE Indices ended in red. The sell off was largely led by financial stocks as there was news that large European banks may be facing financial crisis. Fitch has downgraded HBOS to AA from AA+. HBOS is UK's largest residential mortgage lender.

The Nifty struggled to stay afloat at its psychological mark of 4000 and hit an intraday low of 3974.60 but managed to close above that level. It fell 66.65 points or 1.64 per cent, to settle at 4008.25.

The Sensex has touched an intraday low of 13,127.96, before ending with a loss of 255.90 points or 1.89 pc at 13,262.90.

Delivery based selling was reported in ICICI Bank and Sterlite at the institutional desk. These stocks were among the top losers.

On the global front, Asian markets ended lower. Shanghai tumbled 2.9 per cent, Hang Seng eased 3.63 pc and Straits Times came down 1.71 pc. However, Nikkei rose 1.21 pc, Kospi 2.7 pc, Taiwan Weighted 0.77 pc and Jakarta Composite 1.97 pc.

European markets were trading higher. FTSE was up by 53 points followed by CAC and DAX, which rose 13 points or 23 points, respectively.

Total turnover traded in local markets was at Rs 76,616.91 crore.

This includes Rs 12,270.07 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 58,546.48 crore from NSE F &O and the rest of Rs 5,800.36 crore from BSE Cash segment.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 1760 shares declining as compared to 881 that advanced. 82 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5795 crore as compared to Rs 4206 crore yesterday. Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 24 slipped while the rest gained.

The BSE major indices suffered a setback on renewed selling pressure by bear operators. The BSE METAL index crashed steeply by 361.56 points to close low at 9,814.93 points, followed by BANKEX index by 259.45 to 6,592.96 points, REALTY index by 172.03 to 3,991.93 points, OILS &GAS index by 161.89 to 8,766.24 points, CG index by 139.08 to 11,142.91 points, PSU index by 118.90 to 6,341.71 points, MID CAP by 77.62 to 5,139.63 points, HC index by 75.97 to 3,864.69 points, SML CAP index by 74.66 to 6,214.75 points, FMCG index by 66.52 to 2,112.04 points and POWER index by 41.17 to 2,385 points.

The top heavyweight stocks declined as SBI plummeted by Rs 56.85 to close in red at Rs 1,528.65, followed by Reliance by Rs 54.85 to Rs 1,873.60, HDFC Bank by Rs 45.65 to Rs 1,184.40, Sterlite Ind by Rs 31.60 to Rs 1,895.10, ICICI Bank by Rs 31.05 to Rs 560.30, BHEL by Rs 25.30 to Rs 1,621.95, Ranbaxy Lab by Rs 26.80 to Rs 379.10, L&T by Rs 22.40 to Rs 2,502.10 and TCS Ltd by Rs 20.75 to Rs 728.80.

However, a few key heavyweight shares looked up at the end of the session on scattered bull support by local operators. ONGC rose smartly by Rs 26.65 to finish high at Rs 979.35, Tata Motors was up by Rs 19.30 to Rs 417.70, Infosys Tech by Rs 11.75 to Rs 1,576.00, ACC gained by Rs 9.85 to Rs 592.60 and Wipro was up by Rs 8.00 to Rs 399.75.

UNI