Sensex plunge as investors adamant on selling

Mumbai, Mar 7 (UNI) The 30-scrip Sensex today plunged by 117.34 points at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to end in the red at 12,579.75 points from its previous close of 12,697.09, as a general negative sentiment ensured that selling adamantly refused to die down.

''The Sensex lost early gains as investors used every uptrend as an opportunity to sell,'' a broker lamented.

On the other hand, the Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too plummeted by 28.80 points, to close in the red at 3,626.85 points, from its previous close of 3,655.65 points.

''The correction is expected to continue for some time now. It would be difficult for the markets to touch a new high in the current calendar year,'' a market analyst predicted.

In a major development today, Singapore Exchange (SGX) will now buy out a stake of about 5 per cent in India's premier exchange, the BSE. Last month, Germany's Deutsche Boerse bought 5 per cent stake in the over 125-year-old stock exchange in a deal that valued the BSE at USD 910 million.

''However, this amount is far below the USD 2.3 billion valuation of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), BSE's rival, for little more than a decade, after NYSE Group and others including Goldman Sachs paid USD 460 million for stakes totaling 20 per cent in January,'' analysts pointed out.

General Atlantic and SoftBank Asian Infrastructure Fund were the others parties, each of whom bought 5 per cent stake, the maximum permitted under Indian laws, in the NSE.

The higher valuation for NSE was due to higher trading volumes, especially in the increasingly popular derivatives segment, although the country's benchmark stock index is on the BSE, experts explained.

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