Sensex crashes with 452 pts fall to 10, 938 level

Mumbai, May 19: The markets crashed again as Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) fell below 11,000 level with 452 points fall to 10,938 points.

The 30 share sensitive index (Sensex) was subject to high volatility marking a wild swing of 898.10 points touching an intra-day low of 10,799.01 in the closing hour as compared to the day's high of 11,697 points.

As the sensex fell heavily erasing enormous wealth on the Dalal Street, Left Party leaders called for re-imposition of long-term Captial Gains Tax to keep the markets stable at such high levels and protect the interest of retail investors.

The National Stock Exchange(NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index too swung wildly by 187.80 points between a high of 3,388.90 points and low of 3,205.25 points.

The 50 share Nifty index finally closed 142.30 points lower at 3,246.60 points.

Weaker global markets continued to hurt the Indian markets with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) closing 0.62 per cent lower; Nasdaq was down by 0.70 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 0.69 per cent; Only the Japanese Nikkei was up by 45 per cent.

While the concerns of rising inflation and interest rate were making global markets weaker, latest inflation figures released for India today showed a steep rise in inflation rate to 3.96 per cent from 3.59 per cent during the previous week. Experts felt rising inflation could keep market volatile.

State Bank of India's(SBI) disappointing fourthquarter(Q4)results today showing 20 per cent fall in the profit also brought down markets sentiments. SBI closed 4.41 per cent lower at Rs 868.

The across the board selling today hurt the blue chip scrips on the Sensex badly, drug giant Cipla fell 9.46 per cent to Rs 221.50; Tata Steel was down by 7.69 per cent to Rs 503.50; capital goods major BHEL was down by 7.29 per cent to Rs 2,113.20; ICICI Bank fell 5.87 per cent to Rs 556.85; Ranbaxy fell 6.53 per cent to Rs 429.95.

Also falling badly were Index heavy weight Hindustan Lever by 5.92 per cent to Rs 243.20; ONGC fell 4.36 per cent to Rs 1,289.95; Reliance Industry fell 2.80 per cent to Rs 976.55.

Cement major ACC fell 5.50 per cent to Rs 754.45; Gujarat Ambuja Cement fell 3.80 per cent to Rs 94.85 and Grasim Industries fell by 3.06 per cent to Rs 1,925.15.

While all the Sensex stock closed in the red damages were minimal to HDFC Bank closing only 0.55 per cent at Rs 813.50; TCS closed 1.44 per cent down at Rs 1,894.70; Hindalco closed 1.64 per cent down at Rs188.80.

The significant losers on the NSE Nifty were NALCO down by 11.41 per cent to Rs 240.30; Tata Tea was down by 8.94 per cent to Rs 702.15; Glaxo was down by 8.74 per cent to Rs 1,102.75; Oriental Bank of Commerce was down by 7.41 per cent to Rs 218.75; SAIL was down by 7.40 per cent to Rs 76.30 and Dabur was down by 7.01 per cent to Rs 134.55.

Bombay Dyeing too lost 6.04 per cent at Rs 776; The gainers among the A group scrips were led by Container Corporation of India(CONCOR) up by 5.01 per cent to Rs 1,600; Proctor Gamble gained 2.88 per cent to Rs 957; Ashai India gained 2.70 per cent to Rs 95.05; Balarpur Industries gained 0.87 per cent to Rs121.85; Balaji Telefilms gained 0.51 per cent to Rs147; Moser Baer closed 0.49 per cent up at Rs 224.45.

The breadth in broader market continued to be highly negative with 2,153 scrips or 85.54 per cent declining as against 334 or 13.27 per cent advancing out of a total of 2,517 scrips traded on the BSE.

UNI

Related Stories