Profit-booking at higher levels; Market crashes

Mumbai, June 8: For the third successive session, the barometer Sensex today crashed by 122.37 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), to close the week in the red at 14,063.81, tracking weak global markets and profit-booking at higher levels.

After opening weaker at 14,063.94 from its previous close of 14,186.18, it had reached a high of 14,229.22 and a low of 14,010.61 during intra-day trade.

''The market was marred with intense volatility throughout the day's trading session. Weak global markets, fears of CRR hike and profit booking at higher levels, dragged the market lower. However, some support emerged at lower level, at the fag end of the trading session in the form of value buying,'' market analysts observed.

Among the broader markets, the Nifty Index also shaved off 34.50 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to settle on negative terrain at 4,145.00 from its previous close of 4,179.50, after opening without any change and reaching a high of 4,195.15 and a low of 4,126.10 during intra-day.

''The Sensex oscillated almost 220 points for the day. Going forward, Sensex has strong support at psychologically important 14,000 level,'' technical analysts noted.

The total turnover on the BSE was Rs 4,592 crore. The market breadth was negative as 1,309 shares declined while 1,188 advanced and 90 remained unchanged. Among the Sensex pack, 25 declined while the rest advanced.

India's wholesale price index rose 4.85 per cent in the 12 months to May 26 this year, lower than the previous week's 5.06 per cent, official data released today disclosed. It was better than the market forecast of 5.05 per cent.

The winners today were Hindalco Industries, Satyam Computers, TCS, Wipro and Oil&Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

The laggards were ACC, Tata Steel, HDFC, Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, Reliance Industries (RIL) and State Bank of India (SBI).

All the Asian indices and European indices were down sharply today, with the only exception being China. The Shanghai Composite index was up by 0.57 per cent to 3,913.13. Japan's Nikkei Average plunged as blue chips Sony Corp and Mazda Motors declined after US and European stocks yesterday traded lower on concerns over rising global interest rates and surging bond yields in the US.

The Nikkei was down by 1.52 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 1.40 per cent, Taiwan's Taiwan weighed down by 0.65 per cent, Singapore's Straits Times slipped by 1.54 per cent and South Korea's Seoul Composite slumped by 1.47 per cent.

Wall Street fell sharply for a third straight session yesterday, after rising bond yields deflated hopes for an interest rate cut later in the year. The Dow Jones slumped 198.94 points, or 1.48 per cent, to 13,266.73, bringing its three-day loss to about 410 points.

It was the biggest three-session decline since stock markets began a short-lived pullback earlier on Feb 27, this year, analysts noted and added that all 30 stocks in the blue chip average lost ground yesterday.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard&Poor's 500 index fell 26.66 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 1,490.72, and the Nasdaq Composite index slipped 45.80 points, or 1.77 per cent, to 2,541.38.

Oil slipped back under USD 71 today, as Gulf producer Oman carried out tests to see if it could reopen its export terminal after a three-day closure due to a storm. London Brent crude was down 53 cents at USD 70.69 a barrel.

UNI