Sensex crashes by 173 points, closes at 13,799.49

Mumbai, Dec 8: The Sensex today crashed by 172.54 points and closed lower at 13,799.49 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on sustained heavy selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and local investors.

The selling in the market intensified during the later half of the session. Shares from auto, metals, oil&gas suffered the most.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex plunged by 172.54 points or 1.23 per cent to settle just below the 13,800 mark at 13,799.49. It opened with an upward gap of 35.64 points at 14,007.67. It also hit a high of 14,009.56, but began declining as profit-booking emerged. The fall accentuated in the second half of the day and the Sensex tumbled to a low of 13,756.86.

The BSE METAL index also plummetted by 159.93 points and closed at 9041.19, followed by OILS&GAS index by 137.91 points and touched a low at 6095.46, AUTO index by 86.69 and closed at 5393.16, PSU index by 64.27 points and quoted at 6215.18, BANKEX index by 40.06 and closed lower at 7213.74, SML CAP by 37.03 and closed at 6730.42 and MID CAP by 33.85 and touched at 57.85 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also declined by 53.30 points (1.33 per cent), to 3,962.00. Before it opened flat at 4,015.75. The Nifty index recorded high and low at 4046.85 and 3948.70 resepctively.

The market-breadth was weak on BSE, with over 1.5 losers for every gainer. Against 1,606 shares that declined, 967 advanced. Just 57 shares remained unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,061 crore. Among the 30-Sensex pack, 27 declined while only three of them managed some gains.

The Nikkei average fell by 0.34 per cent on Friday as weaker-than-expected machinery orders data hit machinery stocks such as Fanuc Ltd. The Nikkei slipped 55.54 points to close at 16,417.82, after booking a six-week closing high on Thursday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 103 points (0.55 per cent), to 18,739.99.

US stocks fell on Thursday as investors locked in profits ahead of jobs data on Friday that may show further weakening in the economy and hurt corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped by 30.84 points, or 0.25 per cent, to end at 12,278.41. The Standard&Poors 500 index declined by 5.61 points or 0.40 per cent to finish at 1,407.29.

The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 18.17 points, or 0.74 per cent, to close at 2,427.69.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was up by 39 cents at USD 62.88 while Brent North Sea crude for January delivery rose 32 cents to USD 62.89, brokers said.

Tata Motors was the top loser, down by 3.44 per cent to close at Rs 861.50, on 3 lakh shares. It had tumbled from an intra-day high of Rs 897. ACC (down 2.95 per cent to Rs 1,100), Hindalco (down 2.86 per cent to Rs 178.15) and HLL (down 2.75 per cent to Rs 233.75) were the other losers from the Sensex family.

Reliance Communication slipped 2.30 per cent to close at Rs 445.85, after a block deal of 22.74 lakh shares was struck in the counter at Rs 454 per share. The counter clocked 35.27 lakh shares on BSE.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 2.68 per cent to close at Rs 1,265.90, on a volume of 11.20 lakh shares. The stock has slipped sharply from an intra-day high of Rs 1,310.

State Bank of India (SBI) lost 0.31 per cent to close at Rs 1,342.

As per reports, SBI intends to start operations in Israel by March 2007. The government-run moneylender also wants to enter Pakistan.

The bank is expanding into countries, where India's trade and investment is set to grow in future.

NTPC declined by 0.46 per cent to close at Rs 151, as buying continued, after Merrill Lynch raised price target on the scrip to Rs 180. In a report dated December 5, Merrill Lynch has raised its earnings estimates for NTPC. Its revised price target of Rs 180 on NTPC is based on a discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis.

Reliance Energy was the top gainer, up by 1.96 per cent to touch at Rs 552.65, on 3.02 lakh shares. The stock moved in a broad range of Rs 567.90 -Rs 541. Grasim (up 0.06 per cent to Rs 2750) and Dr Reddy's (up 1.50 per cent to Rs 769) were the other survivors of the market carnage.

Two large block deals were struck on EIH counter of 2.76 lakh shares each at Rs 110 and Rs 107.25, respectively. The stock was down by 0.80 per cent to close at Rs 105.15 on a total volume of 7.97 lakh shares, brokers said.

UNI