Sensex ends below 9K, plunges by 1,070 points

Mumbai, Oct 24: Tbe Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex on Friday, Oct 24 ended below 9,000 barrier to close at 8,701.07 points since November 24, 2005, with a massive loss of 1,070.63, from its last close of 9,771.70 following relentless selling pressure in the heavyweight stocks in view of the announcement of disappointing second quarter monetary policy review by the central bank.

Similarly, the Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) also touched below 2,900 level and ended negative at 2,584.00 points since November 14, 2005, with a big loss of 359.15 points, from its last close of 2,943.15. The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 1,204.88 points during the day and hit an intra-day low of 8,566.82, while the 50-share NSE Nifty touched an intra-day low of 2,525.05 points. Both the indices plummeted, with the Sensex falling by 1,982.29 points and Nifty by 650.90 in the last three days.

It was a worst day in the history of the Indian capital markets.

The benchmark indices have collapsed like a pack of card on account of relentless selling pressure in the heavyweights. The panic selling was seen across the globe. The Dow Futures hit the limit down, signalling massive sell off. The S &P 500 Futures also hit the limit down. European markets tumbled on weak earnings reports and economic fears. FTSE, CAC and DAX were down between 7.5-9.5 per cent. Among the Asian markets, Kospi closed down by 10.57 pc and Nikkei fell 9.6 pc. Hang Seng and Straits Times plunged over 8.3 pc each.

Shanghai, Taiwan and Jakarta lost 1.92 pc, 3.19 pc and 6.91 pc respectively. The Credit Suisse feels that the United States, United Kingdom and Euro zone are in the recession, which reflected in the Indian bourses.

This global meltdown impacted the Indian markets quite sharply.

The panic selling was seen among the local players. The domestic redemption led selloff was seen in the large cap stocks.

The selling pressure is coming in from the European funds. Some large Europe-based funds are facing serious redemption pressure. The nibbling by domestic insurance companies is not supporting the market. Domestic redemption led selloff continued in large cap stocks. The panic selling by local players is adding to the pressure.

Among the frontliners, Suzlon Energy went down by over 35 per cent. Unitech lost 28 pc and Nalco crashed by 24 pc.

Market breadth is extremely weak. About 458 shares have advanced and 2,541 shares declined, while nearly 191 shares remained unchanged.

On the BSE, key indices crashed steeply as OIL &GAS index plummeted by 906.64 points to end in red at 5,151.64 points, followed by BANKEX index by 671.21 to 4,649.87 points. CG index also fell by 633.97 to 6,610.89 points, METAL index delcined by 603.04 to 4,393.88 points, REALTY index shed by 1,743.27 points, PSU index fell by 507.50, SML CAP index by 303.87 points, AUTO index declined by 288.83 to 2,480.96 points. Mid Cap index fell by 303.87 to 3,095.68 points, HC index by 252.97 to 2,811.47 points, CD index down by 199.36 to 2,011.59 points, POWER index eased by 187.44 points to 1,452.90 points, TECH index dwindled by 177.62 to 1,909.46 points, IT index crashed by 141.49 to 2,598.31 points and FMCG index slid by 118.62 to 1,817.91 points.

Among the top BSE heavyweight shares, DLF Ltd plunged by 23.96 points to Rs 203.90, Ranbaxy Lab slid by 17.83 pc to Rs 188.95, Hindalco eased by 17.82 to Rs 43.35, Tata Motors fell by 16.54 pc to Rs 162.75, Reliance declined by 16.44 pc to Rs 1,015.50, Mahindra&Mahindra slipped by 16.04 to Rs 287.40, Reliance Communications Ltd fell by 15.93 to Rs 193.40, ICICI Bank slid by 15.20 to Rs 310, ONGC eased by 15.01 pc to Rs 659.55, Sterlite Ind declined by 14.94 pc to Rs 208.65, REL INFRA slid by 14.88 to Rs 381.45, Tata Steel fell by 14.46 to Rs 178.30, Tata Power dropped by 14.19 to Rs 624.90, Wipro eased by 13.63 pc to Rs 235.15, Bharti Airtel fell by 13.18 pc to Rs 534.45, SBI declined by 12.68 pc to Rs 1,156.35, Jaiprakash Asso slid by 12.23 to Rs 59.55, Grasim fell by 10.88 pc to Rs 1,053.45, HDFC slipped by 10.51 pc to Rs 1,573.35 and TCS by 10.46 pc to Rs 490.20.

UNI