Sensex plunges by 273.42 pts, to end below 13,000 mark

Mumbai, Mar 2 (UNI) The Sensex today plunged by 273.42 points below the psychological 13,000 level on the Bombay Stock Exchange to close in the red at 12,886.13 after most European markets registered a downward trend.

A sell-off gripped the market in late trading, as Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) nose-dived and so did IT scrips, cement, banks and telecom shares.

Earlier, the Sensex had resumed low at 13,139.10, registering the day's high at 13,254.03 and the day's low at 12,836.75 points before finally closing at 12,886.13 points.

The market-breadth turned weak in late trading following the Sensex's sharp fall from a strong breadth earlier during the day.

Against 1,717 shares that declined on the BSE, 890 rose. The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3993 crore.

The BSE CG and OIL&GAS indices were also down by 273.98 and 145.91 points, to finish at 8723.25 and 6192.91 points respectively, followed by BANKEX, IT, METAL, TECK, PSU, MID CAP, SML CAP and AUTO indices which also declined between 50 and 150 points during the session.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also slipped by around 85 points and closed in the red at 3726.75 points. Earlier, it had opened flat at 3811.65 points. Later, it recorded the day's high at 3842.05 and a low at 3711.05 points.

Primarily, the major reason for today's slump was because the European markets slipped into the red after an initial firm trend. London's FTSE 100 Index was down by 0.2 per cent, and CAC 40 Index in France was down by 0.3 per cent.

Besides, the Dow Jones industrial average too closed in the red at 34.29 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 12,234.34. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index slipped by 3.65 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 1,403.17.

The Nasdaq Composite Index also fell by 11.94 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 2,404.21.

On the other hand, Asian markets were mixed. Chinese shares rose across the board today, led by real estate, as profit-taking in highly valued financial shares eased after this week's massive selling. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.2 per cent. But, Japan's Nikkei 225 average was down by 1.3 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.4 per cent.

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