By IANS
Mumbai : In its second biggest fall in history, the Indian stock market tumbled Monday and a benchmark index lost over 950 points or more than six percent with heavy selling in equities of key sectors in tune with global markets bloodbath.
The markets, which opened in the red following international cues, went flat and did not manage to pick up in the later half. The chief cause was said to be the sale of the ailing US bank, Bear Stearns, and the Federal Reserves’ emergency cut in its discount rates.
There was heavy offloading in important sectors like metals, capital goods, banking, realty, oil and gas, state-run firms and consumer durables.
Financial analyst S.P. Tulsiani told IANS: “It’s a total panic reaction. A lot of uncertainties prevail among investors. Nobody is able to gauge the pain in the system that is leading to such a fall.”
He added that global concerns are weighing heavily on Indian markets.
The 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 15,326.93 points – the highest for the day – and closed at 14,809.49 points, losing 951.03 points or 6.03 percent.
The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 6,124.35 points, went down 459.10 points or 6.97 percent.
Similarly, the BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 7,522.23 points, was down 557.27 points or 6.90 percent.
On BSE, the market breadth was extremely low with low trading volumes. A total of 282 shares advanced, 2,404 shares declined and 30 shares remained unchanged. However, all other Asian markets also closed in the red Monday.
The list of biggest losers was led by ICICI Bank at Rs.757.40, down 13.76 percent, HDFC at Rs.2,225.55, down 11.07 percent, Hindalco at Rs.164.85, down 9.20 percent and Jaiprakash Associates at Rs.208.05, down 11.94 percent.