Sensex down 960 points in two trading sessions

The market extended losses for the second successive day today, with Sensex shaving off nearly 1000 points in last two tradng sessions as high inflation, rising interest rates, record high oil prices and political concerns continued to haunt the markets. Over the past few days, the market has witnessed a sharp fall with bears totally dominating the proceedings on the street.

The barometer index BSE Sensex today hit its lowest level in more than 14 months. Realty, consumer durables, oil & gas and capital goods stocks fell. The market breadth was weak.

Political uncertainty weighted on market sentiments. The media continues to speculate whether the ruling Congress led United Progressive Alliance government will be able to push through a much-debated Indo-US nuclear deal and still retain its power, in the face of heavy opposition from its key communist allies. The Left parties on Sunday, 29 June 2008, renewed their threat to withdraw support from the ruling coalition if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh forged ahead with the nuclear deal.

The uncertainty pertains to whether there will be stability at the centre if mid-term polls are held i.e. whether the new government will complete five years and whether the new government restarts economic reforms process which has virtually come to a halt in the last two years or so.

A sustained selling of Indian stocks by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) has also dented market sentiment. As per provisional data, foreign funds sold shares worth a net Rs 703.11 crore on Friday, 27 June 2008. FII outflow in June 2008 totaled Rs 9349 crore (till 26 June 2008). FII outflow in calendar year 2008 totaled Rs 24,719.10 crore (till 26 June 2008).

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 340.62 points or 2.47% at 13,461.60. Sensex lost 396.68 points at day’s low of 13,405.54, its lowest level in more than 14 months. Sensex gained 69.84 points at its high of 13,872.06 hit in mid-morning trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 96.1 points or 2.32% at 4,040.55.

Sensex had slumped 619.60 points or 4.30% to 13,802.22 on Friday, 27 June 2008. A setback to stocks in Asia and US, sharp spurt in crude oil prices and political uncertainty due to Indo-US nuclear deal rattled the bourses on that day. From a record high of 21,206.77 hit on 10 January 2008, Sensex has lost 7,745.17 points or 36.52% to current 13,461.60. It has declined 6,825.39 points or 33.64% in calendar year 2008 so far.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,439 crore today as compared to Rs 6,015.06 crore on Friday, 27 June 2008.

Nifty July 2008 futures were at 3960, at a steep discount of 80.55 points as compared to spot closing of 4040.55. NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 40,590.90 crore, which was lower than Rs 45,408.54 crore on Friday, 27 June 2008.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 542 shares advancing as compared to 2,107 that declined. 43 remained unchanged. 21 stocks ended in red from Sensex pack.

As per the provisional figures on NSE, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 208.66 crore today, 30 June 2008 while domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 724.18 crore.

The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 3.1% to 5,386.48 and BSE Small-Cap index fell 3.4% to 6,701.96. Both these indices underperformed Sensex.

BSE Realty index (down 6.81% at 4,543.47), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 4.71% to 3,477.60), The BSE Oil & Gas index (down 4.03% to 9,009.16), The BSE Power (down 3.55% to 2,252.39), BSE Capital Goods index (down 3.46% at 10,080.69), BSE Bankex (down 3.43% at 5,915.98), BSE Auto (down 2.83% at 3,585.62), BSE PSU index (down 2.67% to 5,666.42), underperformed the Sensex.

BSE IT index (up 0.38% to 4,019.82), BSE FMCG index (up 0.35% to 2,080.33), BSE Health Care index (up 0.34% at 4,164.33), BSE Metal index (down 0.64% to 13,207.30), BSE TecK index (down 1.6% to 3,043.99), outperformed the Sensex.

Realty stocks tumbled. Unitech (down 6.65% to Rs 170.65), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 8.56% to Rs 271.20) and DLF (down 6.6% to Rs 396.20) edged lower.

Consumer durables stocks declined. Rajesh Exports (down 10.36% to Rs 58.40), Videocon Industries (down 6.12% to Rs 258.55), Blue Star (down 3.89% to Rs 374.55), and Titan Industries (down 3.63% to Rs 991.55) edged lower.

Oil & Gas stocks declined. HPCL (down 5.52% to Rs 175.35), Gail (India) (down 2.4% to Rs 332.95), BPCL (down 6.3% to Rs 236), Indian Oil Corporation (down 2.74% to Rs 332.25) edged lower.

State run oil refiner ONGC declined 1.86% to Rs 814.70. It came off from session's high of Rs 853.50. It has reportedly discovered a new oil field in the Farsi oil bloc of the Persian Gulf. ONGC will undertake the development of the newly discovered field upon determining that its development is economically feasible.

Oil prices rose to a record near $143 a barrel on Friday, 27 June 2008, as a drop in global equities markets lured more investors into commodities. Crude oil rose one dollar in electronic trading to $141.21 a barrel on Monday, 30 June 2008.

Capital Goods stocks fell. India’s largest engineering and construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro was down 3.7% to Rs 2,183.20. It came off from session's high of Rs 2,308. The company today said it had received an order wroth Rs 1,557 crore from Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company for the supply of steam turbine generators.

India's biggest power equipment maker in terms of revenue, Bharat Heavy Electricals was flat at Rs 1,380.60. The company today said it has bagged an order exceeding Rs 2080 crore for a 400-megawatt thermal power project in Syria. Wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy declined 6.29% to Rs 215.90.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group stocks tumbled. Reliance stocks slumped. Reliance Infrastructure lost 11.47% to Rs 784.80 and Reliance Communications shed 6.58% to Rs 442.40.

Hindalco Industries (up 1.97% to Rs 142.10), ITC (up 1.66% to Rs 187), Jaiprakash Associates (up 0.84% to Rs 143.85), Cipla (up 0.29% to Rs 211.10), NTPC (up 0.4% to Rs 151.65), Tata Steel (up 0.22% to Rs 728.35) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

ACC (down 9.8% to Rs 522.50), Ambuja Cements (down 6.83% to Rs 75.70), Grasim Industries (down 6.66% to Rs 1,815), DLF (down 6.6% to Rs 396.20), Tata Motors (down 5.03% to Rs 426.50), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 5% to Rs 485.05), HDFC (down 4.4% to Rs 1,962.40), edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Reliance Petroleum clocked the highest volume of 1.51 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.44 crore shares), Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals (84.61 lakh shares), IFCI (81.62 lakh shares) and Ispat Industries (79.15 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.

Reliance Industries clocked the highest turnover of Rs 379.85 crore on BSE. Reliance Petroleum (Rs 262.7 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 243.63 crore), Niraj Cement Structurals (Rs 148.04 crore) and Reliance Communications (Rs 141.88 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.

European markets which opened after Indian markets were mixed. Key benchmark indices in France and UK were up by between 0.04% to 0.81%. Germany’s DAX fell 0.91%.

Asian markets were trading mixed today. The key benchmark indices in Singapore, China, Japan and Taiwan were down by between 0.33% to 1%. Key benchmark indices in HangSeng and South Korea were up by 0.01% to 0.27%.

US markets finished lower for the second consecutive day on Friday, 27 June 2008, hit by surging crude oil prices and a fresh round of banking troubles. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 106.91, or 0.93 %, to 11,346.51. The Nasdaq composite index fell 5.74, or 0.25% to 2,315.63 and S&P 500 index fell 4.77, or 0.37% to 1,278.38.