Sensex plunges 207 points on late panic selling

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex plunged over 207 points on 9 August on emergence of heavy selling by funds and investors, following reports that a leading European bank has freezed accounts of three mutual funds.
The Sensex, which commenced the day with a 234 point gain, tumbled 207.83 points at 15,100.15 on aggressive selling by funds on reports that French bank BNP Paribas was the latest to face the subprime credit crunch.
The benchmark index experienced a wide swing of nearly 500 points during the day by touching a high of 15,542.40 and a low of 15,062.10 points.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, shed 58.90 points at 4,403.20 as many consumer durable and refinery stocks led by Reliance Industries quoted lower.
Marketmen said the downslide on domestic bourses began near the noon session after European markets opened on a weak note with BNP Paribas and Commerzbank seeing a sharp fall in their share prices.
They said concerns of a serious political development in neighbouring Pakistan and its stock market crashing nearly four per cent also had a negative impact on the bourses here.
“Major market participants like foreign funds adopted a cautious approach in investing on concerns over reports of emergency in Pakistan,” said Rajiv Malik of RNM Financial Services.