Sensex plummets 567 points

The southbound journey continued for another session as a slump in global indices and concerns of recession in the USA made investors nervous, triggering a major sell-off. The Sensex resumed on a bearish note at 16,212, down 330 points, tracking weak global cues and accumulated more losses by afternoon as selling intensified amid reality, power, banking and capital goods stocks. The Sensex plummeted over 852 points to touch the day's low of 15,690. However, buying in late trades helped the Sensex recover some losses and close the session down 567 points at 15,976. The broad based Nifty closed at 4,772, down 150 points.

All the sectoral indices were mauled and declined by 2-6% each. The BSE Realty index was the major loser and crashed by 6.64% followed by the BSE Power index (down 5.57%), the BSE Bankex index (down 4.92%), the BSE CG index (down 4.52%) and the BSE Auto index (down 4.44%). The BSE second-rung benchmark indices the BSE mid-cap index and the BSE small-cap index tanked by over 4% each.

The breadth of the market was heavily skewed in favor of losers. Of the 2,709 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,382 stocks declined, 297 stocks advanced and 30 stocks ended unchanged. Except Reliance Communications, HUL and Bharti Airtel all the stocks in the Sensex ended at lower levels. Among the major losers Reliance Energy crashed by 12.98% at Rs1,270, Bajaj Auto plunged by 11.23% at Rs1,889, ICICI Bank slumped by 7.04% at Rs893, L&T crumbled by 6.64% at Rs2,988, Hindalco plummeted by 5.79% at Rs196, NTPC dropped 5.06% at Rs185, HDFC shed 4.57% at Rs2,629 and M&M tanked 4.52% at Rs665. However, Reliance Communications bucked the trend and gained 2.99% at Rs543, while HUL and Bharti Airtel gained marginally.

Over 2.19 crore RNRL shares changed hands on the BSE followed by GSS America (1.39 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.24 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.05 crore shares) and Tata Teleservices (88 lakh shares).

Valuewise, GSS America registered a turnover of Rs657 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Industries (Rs286 crore), RNRL (Rs239 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs230 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs229 crore).