Market slumps on global cues

Sensex plunged in early trades on weak global markets. The sell-off saw Sensex close at 8,779, down 321 points. The market remained range-bound with a negative bias in the afternoon, while a few cement stocks stayed in the positive territory on moderate buying support. The key Asian benchmark index--Nikkei--closed with losses of 2.04%. The Hang Sang, the Straits Times and the Jakarta indices closed with losses of 2-3% each. This had a negative impact on the domestic market. Sensex finally ended the session at 8779, down 321 points, while Nifty shed 90 points to close at 2706.

All the sectoral indices were hammered on relentless selling pressure except the FMCG Index. BSE Metal dropped 4.07%, BSE Power lost 3.91% and BSE Bankex shed 3.91%. Other sectoral indices shed around 1-3% each.

The broader market was extremely weak. Of the 2,493 stocks traded on BSE, 1,669 stocks declined, 720 stocks advanced and 104 stocks ended unchanged. Except Satyam Computer Services, Hindustan Unilever and ITC all the stocks in Sensex basket ended in the red. Among major losers, Tata Power tanked 8.45% at Rs704.90, ICICI Bank tumbled 7.75% at Rs366.50, Sterlite Industries plunged 7.31% at Rs238.95, HDFC slumped 6.97% at Rs1379.95, Bharti Airtel fell 6.33% at Rs576.40, Reliance Energy shed 6.16% at Rs518, Ranbaxy Laboratories dropped 6.02% at Rs201.50, Reliance Industries slipped 5.87% at Rs1,113 and Grasim Industries was down 5.25% at Rs1,150. The other front-line stocks were down 2-4% each.

Satyam Computer Services witnessed volumes of over 3.86 crore shares on the BSE followed by Unitech (1.48 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (99 lakh shares), Suzlon Energy (97 lakh shares) and Cals Refineries (89 lakh shares).