Sensex plummets 613 points

The market’s southbound journey continued for the second session as slump in global indices and concerns of possible recession in the USA made the investors nervous, triggering a major sell-off. The Sensex resumed on a positive note at 18,199, up 60 points and hovered above its last close of 18,139 till the mid-morning trades. However, a strong bout of selling by afternoon saw the Sensex accumulate losses of 555 points to touch the day's low of 17,584. The Sensex dropped 3.38% and was down 613 points for the day at 17527. The Nifty shed 3.56% and was down 189 points at 5133.

All the sectoral indices were mauled and declined by 2-4% each. The BSE Oil & Gas index was the major loser and crashed by 4.38% followed by the BSE Metal index (down 4.35%), the BSE Realty index (down 4.19%), the BSE PSU index (down 3.68%), the BSE Teck index (down 3.63%) and the BSE Bankex index (down 3.03%). The BSE second-rung benchmark indices the BSE mid-cap index and the BSE small-cap index tanked by over 2% each.

The market breadth was negative. Of the 2,849 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,002 stocks declined, 803 stocks advanced and 44 stocks ended unchanged. Except ACC all the Sensex stocks ended at lower levels. Among the major losers Hindalco crashed by 5.83% at Rs163, Reliance Communications plunged by 5.51% at Rs644, NTPC slumped 5.13% at Rs206, Reliance Industries crumbled 4.98% at Rs2,425, Satyam Computer plummeted by 4.36% at Rs391, Bharti Airtel dropped 4.20% at Rs863, ICICI Bank shed 4.13% at Rs1,105 and L&T tanked 3.97% at Rs3,630. Other heavyweights also came under sustained selling pressure and lost 2-3% each. However, ACC gained 1.03% at Rs773.

Over 3.52 crore RNRL shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Ispat Industries (2.90 crore shares), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.98 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.69 crore shares) and IFCI (1.62 crore shares).

Valuewise, RNRL registered a turnover of Rs569 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Energy (Rs338 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs296 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs243 crore) and Future Capital (Rs211 crore).