Sensex nosedives by 334.32 points

{image-sensex, big_19062008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Mumbai, June 19: The Bombay Stock Exchange's sensitive index today nosedived by 334.32 points, ending lower for the second concecutive day at 15,087.99 on heavy selling pressure by local operators.

The Sensex and Nifty indice of NSE have crashed by 608.91 and 148.75 points respectively in the last two days. The Nifty lingered around its psychological mark of 4500 throughout the day but managed to close just above that level. It touched an intraday low of 4488.95, before closing the day at 4504.25, down 78.15 points or 1.71 per cent. The Sensex plunged 334.32 points or 2.17 per cent to finish at 15,087.99, after hitting a low of 15,051.66. Weak Asian markets and uncertainies on the political front took its toll on the bourses today. Banking, capital goods and realty stocks led the fall on the bourses. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red.

European markets, which opened on a weak note, recovered during the course of the trading session after unexpected news of a British shopping spree last month offset early gloom about the banking sector. Key indices in UK and France were up 0.21 per cent to 0.51 pc. However, Germany's DAX index was down 0.11 pc.

Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, ended on a weak note. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by 1.88 pc to 6.54 pc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its lowest level in three months yesterday, as worries about a weak US economy compounded by credit sector concerns dragged down shares in banks, autos and transport firms.

Political worries continued to weigh on the market sentiment for second day in a row. The postponement of a key meeting between the government and its communist allies on the proposed nuclear deal between US and India kept the future of the deal uncertain.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down by 334.32 points or 2.17 pc and closed in red at 15,087.99. The index shed 370.65 points at the day's low of 15,051.66 hit in the mid-afternoon trade.

The broader based S &P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was quoted below 4500 mark in mid session and touched the day's low at 4482.95 points.The index resumed flat at 4582.55. Finally it closed low at 4504.25 points with a loss of 78.15 points from it last close of 4582.40.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 842 shares advancing as compared to 1806 that declined. 69 remained unchanged.

The BSE indices also declined as CG index crashed by 451.64 points to close low at 11,667.69 points, followed by BANKEX index by 293.26 points to 7013.18 points, REALTY index by 251.18 to 5634.60 points, PSU index by 157.47 points to 6524.61, OILS &GAS index by 147.50 to 9918.85 points, MID CAP index by 129.62 to 6230.17, METAL index by 119.62 to 15,131.86 points, HC index by 99.84 to 3928.77 points and POWER index by 70.09 to 2604.91 points.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4297 crore as against Rs 6,183.16 crore yesterday.

Total turnover traded by the markets stood at Rs 56589.65 crore.

This includes Rs 9254.57 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 42696.18 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 4638.9 crore from BSE Cash segment.

Among the top heavyweight stocks, the losers were L&T, which declined by Rs 133.20 to close low at Rs 2750.50, followed by HDFC by Rs 76.20 to Rs 2314.10, BHEL by RS 75.55 to Rs 1498.70, REL INFRA by Rs 61 to Rs 1073.35, SBI by Rs 49.90 to Rs 1350.90, Ranbaxy Lab by Rs 45.95 to Rs 598.20, HDCF Bank by Rs 45.85 to Rs 1166.45, Reliance by 38.50 to Rs 2283.50, Grasim Ind by Rs 33.55 to Rs 2229.10, ICICI Bank by Rs 32.05 to Rs 785.35, ONGC by Rs 26.95 to Rs 880.50, Maruti Suzuki by Rs 18.50 to Rs 765, Tata Motors by Rs 14.20 to Rs 517.25, DLF Ltd by Rs 492.35 and TCS Ltd by Rs 14.55 to Rs 900.50.

However, a few scrips looked up by scattered bull support by some mutual fund operators. Mahindra&Mahindra rose by Rs 6.35 to close firm at Rs 570.10, Wipro gained by Rs 3.65 to Rs 484.85, and Cipla moved up by Re one to Rs 216.85.

UNI