Sensex crashes by 404 pts, closes at 12,995.02

Mumbai, Dec 12: The downslide continued for the second consecutive day on the Bombay Stock Exchange with the Sensex today plunging by 404.41 points to close at a low of 12,995.02 on panic selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and some domestic investors.

The Sensex regained some of the lost ground at the fag end of trading after sliding by over 575 points to an intra-day low of 12,801.65. Extensive damage across the board was evident in the market-breadth, only 442 shares rose while 2,124 scrips declined.

The Sensex has crashed by over 800 points in the last two sessions.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex settled below 13,000, at 12,995.02, registering a huge loss of 404.41 points (3.02 per cent) for the day. It had witnessed high volatility in the opening session of trade. After opening high at 13,413.61, it began declining sharply.

Its high for the day was 13,492.21.

The BSE CG and METAL indices plummetted steeply by 377.98 points and 338.44 points respectively and were quoted at 8755.39 for CG inded and for METAL index at 8341.30, followed by SML CAP Index by 269.56, closing at 6278.75. PSU index was down by 262.26 points and quoted at 5711.80, MID CAP index by 231.44 points and closed at 5370.10. BANKEX index was down by 217.83 points and touched 6531.95.

OIL&GAS index slid by 173.41 points and touched 5792.95, HC index by 114.53 and closed at 3533.28, while TECK was down by 102.86 and closed at 3404.12 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE was also quoted below the 3800 mark, closing at a low of 3716.90 with a loss of 133.40 points from its last close of 3849.50 before it resumed flat at 3849.10. The Nifty index recorded a high and low of 3861.25 and 3661.60 respectively during the intra-day.

The frenzied selling is attributed to margin-selling, which has become an add-on feature of steep index declines. The BSE Sensex had tumbled 400 points on Monday, its 10th biggest ever fall.

The surprise hike in cash reserve ratio by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) had a big impact on the market, with the banking stocks being the major losers. Renewed selling gripped the bourses after latest data showed a lower-than-expected 6.2 per cent growth in industrial production for October, 2006.

The Nikkei average rose 0.66 per cent on Tuesday as exporters such as Kyocera Corp advanced on a weak yen, while seafood suppliers jumped after a merger announcement by Maruha Group Inc fuelled speculation of a further sector shakeup. The Nikkei 225 index was up by 0.66 per cent, or 109.79 points, to close at 16,637.78.

US stocks edged higher on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.99 points, or 0.17 per cent, to close at 12,328.48.

The Standard&Poor's 500 Index ended up 3.20 points, or 0.23 per cent, to finish at 1,413.04.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.50 points, or 0.23 per cent, to end at 2,442.86, which did not impact on Indian bourses, leading brokers said.

The Hang Seng index was down marginally by 0.09 per cent, or 17.49 points, at 18,907.17. Oil fell nearly by a dollar on Monday as mild weather prevailed over much of the United States, cutting into heating oil demand from the world's largest fuel consuming nation.

US crude prices slipped by 77 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to .28 a barrel, while London Brent crude fell by 22 cents to USD 61.98 a barrel.

HDFC Bank was the lone gainer from the 30-Sensex pack. It rose 0.10 per cent to Rs 1,035 as 99,558 shares changed hands. It swung in a wild range of Rs 1,065.90 to Rs 1,002.20.

Bharti Airtel was the top loser, down by 6.77 per cent to close at Rs 566, on a volume of 3.18 lakh shares. It had surged to a high of Rs 613.50.

Grasim (down 6.47 per cent to Rs 2,529.40), ACC (down 6.39 per cent to Rs 970) and SBI (down 5.52 pr cent to Rs 1,174.10) followed.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 2.30 per cent to Rs 1,210, as 26.67 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE counter.

The stock recovered smartly, after declining to Rs 1,181, brokers said.

UNI

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