By IANS,
Mumbai : It turned out to be another Black Monday for Indian equities as key indices slumped following the sharp rise in crude oil prices and weak global cues.
Except healthcare, all the sectoral indices ended the day in the red. Realty, capital goods, banking, oil and gas stocks were the worst hit.
The Sensex, the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), fell below the psychological mark of 15,000. The S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange touched its lowest mark in 2008 so far.
Crude oil prices touched a new high of $139 a barrel in the international market.
The Sensex started with a sharp cut and immediately embarked on a downward slide. At one point, it went down by more than 750 points from its closing figure Friday. But by Monday afternoon, it found support around the 15,000 mark and ended the day around that level.
The Sensex opened at 15,115.97 points and touched a low of 14,846.18 before closing at 15,066.10. It went down by 506.08 points or 3.25 percent.
The Nifty, which opened at 4,626.45 points, closed at 4,500.95. It went down by 126.85 points or 2.74 percent.
The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 6,170.33 points, went down by 179.82 points or 2.83 percent.
The BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 7,416.54 points, went down by 279.51 points or 3.63 percent.
The market breadth was negative. On BSE, 474 shares advanced, 2,170 declined and 49 maintained status quo.
“Domestic markets have corrected themselves with international markets, and the price of crude oil in international markets in coming days is going to decide the way how domestic markets will react,” said S.P. Tulsian, financial analyst and CEO of Tulsian.com.
“Investors are panicky about the overall market scenario as they feel there might be further rise in inflation. It will take some time for the market to adjust to the emerging global economic scenario due to the rise in crude oil prices,” Tulsian said.
Ashok Jainani, head of research of Mumbai-based Khandwal Securities Ltd, feels that the fall in equities market reflects lack of buying in the wake of overall gloomy scenario.
“Scaling down of growth outlook, inflation shooting up in double digits, net outflow of foreign capital instead of inflows by the FIIs (foreign institutional investors)… fear seems to have gripped investors as opposed to the hype a few months ago,” Jainani said.
The top losers of the day included Jaiprakash Associates, down 8.65 percent to Rs.183.65; DLF at Rs.481.55 lost 7.39 percent; ONGC at Rs.872.60 went down 7.02 percent.
The top gainers of the day were Ranbaxy Labs at Rs.526.40 up by 3.87 percent; Reliance Communications at Rs.554.10 gained 1.34 percent; Hindalco at Rs.175.95 gained 0.2 percent.