Another Crazy Ride

Monday started on a weak note. The sentiment was lifted on Tuesday and Wednesday. US shares rallied on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average registering a triple-digit gain after Cisco raised its sales forecast and concerns eased on the crisis in the sub-prime mortgage and credit markets

On Thursday, the markets opened strong but could not sustain the momentum. BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, said that it had temporarily suspended redemptions in three of its funds due to the current turmoil linked to the US sub-prime mortgages. Weakness in the European markets and selling in the index heavyweights like SBI, L&T and RIL dragged the benchmark Sensex to hit a low of 15,062.

Friday did not bring any good cheer. The US sub-prime mortgage worry hit the European markets, the US markets and the Asian markets.

When looking at the closing prices on August 3 and 10, 2007, only 8 of the Sensex stocks closed in the green. And 4 of them were tech stocks: TCS (4.41%), Wipro (2.13%), Infosys (1.71%) and Satyam (1.60%). The biggest losers were Hindalco (-6.93%) and ICICI Bank (-5.42%).

Various sectoral indices dropped on Friday but BSE IT Index rose to close at 4774.13. Realty, banking and metal stocks were the worst hit on Friday.

SBI had a volatile week with reports that the government is expected to fund the bank's growth plans and then news that the bank may split its stock as it sells shars to raise funds.

Realty stocks picked up at the start of the week and BSE Realty closed at 7540.55 on Wednesday. But due to profit booking towards the end of the week, it closed at 7263.54.