Sensex snaps the ventilator; tumbles 388 pts

Mumbai, May 31: In a day full of negativity, the BSE Sensex plunged 388 points to close at 10,398.61, showing a swing of 568 points through the day's trading.

Earlier, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) nosedived 400 points in the opening session and touched the week's low of 10,111.96 points in the intra-afternoon trading.

The crash at the Sensex is primarily attributed to weak global markets, weaker commodity prices and extremely volatile metal indices.

''The hike in federal interest rate has had a cascading effect on all the global markets. Also, the weakened commodity prices have factored in the weaking of the BSE Sensex,'' trader and investor in the stock market Dinesh Thakkar said.

All the sectoral indices at BSE today closed in red. The FMCG has been the biggest sufferer with a decline of 4.85 per cent, the metal indices followed with 4.31 per cent, smallcap by 4.06 per cent, bankex by 4.00 per cent and PSU indices by 3.72 per cent.

The biggest gainer on the benchmark index was Tata Motors, which gained by 1.50 points to Rs 789.

However, it was the day clearly meant for losers, beginning with ITC, ICICI, Tata Steel, ONGC, Grasim, L&T, Cipla, Housing and Development Finance Corporation, Wipro and TCS, all losing between 4.5 to 6.5 per cent.

The only gainer on the index was Tata Motors, gaining by 1.50 per cent to Rs 789. Besides, top losers on the BSE Sensex were - ITC by 6.54 per cent to Rs 165, ICICI by Rs 5.92 per cent to Rs 536.05, Tata Steel by 5.63 per cent to Rs 516.70, ONGC by 5.63 per cent to Rs 1,112.05, Grasim by 5.52 per cent to Rs 1,772.50, L&T by 5.39 per cent to Rs 2,318.30, Cipla by 4.95 per cent to Rs 229.50. HDFC by 4.92 per cent to Rs 1,125.95, Wipro by 4.42 per cent to Rs 449.85 and TCS was down by 4.23 per cent to Rs 1,782.60.

The breadth in the broader market was in favour of 2,016 declines with respect to 386 advances, out of total 2,443 scrips traded on the BSE.

Earlier during the day, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had stated that, Indian economy is stable and strong and government has done well to check the inflation rate, increase in interest rate and maintain a stable foreign exchange reserves, hence, there is no need for the investors to worry.

UNI