Sensex sinks on China meltdown

The Indian market was hit by a thunderstorm on Tuesday, with the key indices ending near the lowest point of the day amid a global sell off. What’s worse, the slump came on huge volumes with the total market turnover surpassing the Rs 2 lakh crore.



The Realty, Metals and the Capital Goods stocks led the decline. Even the broader indices sold off, leading to a collapse in the advance decline ratio. On the BSE, 2,433 stocks declined while 598 shares advance and 93 stocks remained unchanged.

"Selling intensified on Dalal Street on concerns about further monetary tightening in China and sovereign debt worries in the eurozone. The Chinese market plunged by more than 4% dragged down by speculation that policy makers will announce further tightening measures to check inflation. Meanwhile, the Central Bank in South Korea today hiked interest rates by 25bps to rein in inflation," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex lost 445 points to close at 19,865 and the NSE Nifty lost 133 points to close at 5,988.

All the BSE sectoral indices ended in the red, the BSE Realty index was the top loser the index lost 3.5%, followed by BSE Metal index slipped 3.1%, the BSE Capital Goods index slipped 2.8% and BSE Consumer Durables index slipped 2.5%.

The broader indices ended in deep red, the BSE Mid-Cap index lost by 2.1% and BSE Small-Cap index slipped 3%.

The European indices were trading in deep red as well, the DAX in Germany was down 0.5%, the CAC 40 index in France was down 1.2% and FTSE index ended lower by 1.2%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were RCF, NFL, Yes Bank, HCC, Bhushan Steel and OBC. On the other hand, gainers included Educomp, Bosch, Cadila, LITL and Exide Ind.

Meanwhile, shares of Gravita India Ltd. almost doubled on their stock market debut today. The stock touched a day's high of Rs 247 as against the issue price of Rs 125. It opened at Rs 201 on the NSE. The stock closed at Rs 208 up Rs 83 or 66% against the issue price.