Sensex nosedives below 16K, sheds 582.12 pts in early trade

Mumbai, Mar 7 (UNI) Sensex nosedived 582.37 points to hit below 16K level while Nifty tumbled over 170 points on fresh selling pressure across the sector triggered by extremely weak global cues in the early trade.

The bechmark Sensex opened the session on negative note at 16,211.96, shedding 330.12 from its previous close of 16,542.08 and further dipped to a low at 15,959.71 on extended profit booking interest.

Banking, realty and power sector created pulldown presure by losing over five per cent on the sectorial index. Reliance Energy was the biggest loser from the Sensex pack. All the 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in the red. The market breadth was extremely weak, brokers said.

Asian markets tumbled, as investors sold riskier assets due to lack of confidence in the US economy. US stocks tumbled a day before a series of fresh jolts to credit markets and lackluster retail sales compounded worries of the economy in near recession. Frontliner stocks, ICICI Bank slipped 6.82 per cent to Rs 894.90, Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 3.04per cent to Rs 2224.05, Reliance Energy declined 6.88 per cent at Rs 1359, Maruti Suzuki was down 4.91 per cent at Rs 894, DLF slipped 4.68 per cent at Rs 649.45, HDFC Bank shed 4.44 per cent at Rs 1277 and Reliance Communication declined 4.09 per cent at Rs 506 in the early trade.

As per provisional data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 285.03 crore in the previous session. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net sellers of shares worth Rs 131.68 crore on that day.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 604.94 crore in the futures&options segment on March 5, 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 498.10 crore and bought index options worth Rs 129.67 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 13.57 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 9.25 crore.

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