By IANS
Mumbai : Taking a cue from global meltdown, especially in the US, a major Indian share market index crashed in the early hours of trading Thursday, then staged a half-hearted recovery, but ended with a loss of 4.3 percent.
The benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 14,358.21, down 642.70 points, after dipping to an intra-day low of 14,347.89 points within some 10 minutes into trading.
The index had opened weak at 14,584.92 points, compared to its previous close of 15,000.91 on Tuesday. The markets were closed Wednesday for Independence Day.
All 30 scrips that comprise the basket of Sensex shares ended in the red.
The Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also opened more than 200 points below Tuesday’s closing and ended the day 191.60 points or 4.38 percent down at 4,178.60.
Tata steel led the major losers, down 10.34 percent at Rs.575.35, followed by private telecom service provider Bharti Airtel, down 6.63 percent at Rs.800.85 and public sector lender State Bank of India, down 5.78 percent at Rs.1,521.60.
Aluminium maker Hindalco, telecom service provider Reliance Communications, top private sector lender ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals, Reliance Energy and HDFC Bank were also among the losers.
“The main cause for worry is that the depressing reports about a slowdown in the economic recovery have revived in the US. The current turmoil in the credit and mortgage market is fuelling the crash,” an analyst with a brokerage here said.
The markets in the US fell for the fifth consecutive session Wednesday and the three major indices – the Dow Jones, Standard and Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq – ended with losses of more than one percent. All other markets in the Asia-Pacific region also closed in the red Thursday.