Sensex crashes again by 188 points

Mumbai, Nov 28: The BSE sensitive index was today quoted below the 19,000 barrier, closing at a low of 18,938.87 points with a massive loss of 188.86 points from it last close of 19,127.73 points on sustained heavy offloading by FIIs and domestic financial institutional investors.

Brokers said, ''The 30-share BSE Sensex which had surged 189 points during morning trade, faced resistance at higher level and nose-dived into negative territory in the last hour of trade". Oil&gas, metal and realty stocks were the worst hit. The market breadth turned negative from positive in late trade. 22 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red.

Asian stocks started the day stronger, tracking gains in US markets, but worries about the credit market soon returned, pushing most of the markets in the red. European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were mixed. Asian stock markets were mostly into the red.

Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, China, were down by between 0.09 per cent to 1.35 percent cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.59 percent cent. In Europe, key indices in France and UK were down by between 0.06 per cent to 0.17 per cent. Germany's DAX index was up by 0.28 per cent. US stocks rose on yesterday, after Abu Dhabi's USD 7.5 billion purchase of a stake in Citigroup Inc spurred a rebound in financial stocks and a drop in oil prices boosted shares of big manufacturers. The Dow Jones industrial average was up by 215 points, or 1.69 per cent, at 12,958.44. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was up by 21.01 points, or 1.49 per cent at 1,428.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up by 39.81 points, or 1.57 per cent, at 2,580.80.

The market has been volatile over the past few days due to alternate bouts of buying and selling amid FII sales caused by redemption pressure in their home countries and fears of a US recession arising from housing slump and credit crisis.

UNI