BSE Sensex crashes by 541.74 points

Mumbai, July 27: The Sensex today crashed by a whopping 541.74 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to settle in the red at 15,234.57, following a sharp correction in US and Asian bourses and marginal increase in inflation.

''The market was gripped with intense selling pressure throughout the day's trading session, following a sharp fall in US and Asian stocks. There was bloodbath on Dalal street with all the sectoral indices on BSE posting sharp losses. Sugar shares, which held firm throughout the day, also pared gains in the last one hour of trade.

However, the turnover was very high today.'', analysts said.

Among the broader markets, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also plunged by a shocking 174.60 points to settle on negative terrain at 4,445.20 from its previous close of 4,619.80, after opening weaker at 4,618.65 and moving between 4,618.90 and 4,424.25 during the day's session.

BSE data showed that the market breadth was weak here as only 630 shares advanced and 1,991 fell, while 62 remained unchanged. But interestingly, even as the markets declined, the turnover vaulted above the Rs 6,500 crore mark, at Rs 6,593 crore as compared to Rs 5,758 crore yesterday, market analysts pointed out adding that among the 30-scrip Sensex pack, 27 slumped, while three stood tall in the bloodbath.

The three leaders are ITC, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Ambuja Cement, while the prominent laggards include JSW Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Sterlite Industries, Hindalco Industries, SAIL, Reliance Communications, BHEL, NTPC, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries (RIL).

All Asian indices were trading with losses, except KLSE Composite. Japanese Nikkei tumbled 2.36 per cent at 17,283.81. Hang Seng slipped 2.76 per cent at 22,572.95, Taiwan Weighted was down 4.22 per cent at 9,162.28), Singapore's Straits Times slumped 2.43 per cent at 3,492.70, South Korea's Seoul Composite tanked 4.09 per cent at 1,883.22 and Shanghai Composite was down 0.03 per cent to 4,345.35.

Wall Street suffered one of its worst losses in this year so far yesterday. The Dow Jones plunged 311.50 points, or 2.26 per cent, to 13,473.57. Broader market indicators also slid. The Nasdaq Composite index declined 48.83 points, or 1.84 per cent, to 2,599.34, while the Standard&Poor's 500 slipped 35.43 points, or 2.33 per cent, to 1,482.66.

Wholesale price-based inflation rate increased to 4.41 per cent in the week ended July 14 from 4.27 per cent in the previous week mainly on higher prices of fruits and vegetables. The inflation numbers are still within the 5 per cent annual target of the RBI, economists observed and added that the Central Bank is set to review the monetary policy at the end of the month on July 31. The annual rate of inflation was 4.62 per cent in the corresponding week last year.

UNI