Panic Friday: Recession fears pull Sensex 387 points lower

Investors ran for exits after the worsening financial crisis in Europe compounded anxiety over a weak US economy that has come close to stalling. The Sensex fell 387 points and the Nifty down 121 points

Major headlines

Ranbaxy Lab Q2 consolidated PAT down 25%

Bosch Q2 net profit soars 33%

GE Shipping Q1 consolidated net profit slips 5%



Indian indices

Today’s day would be called as a ‘Panic Day’ for markets. Recession jitters inflated investors anxiety after series of weak economic data raised global growth concerns. The Indian markets were reeling under pressure all throughout day following sell-off in global equities over sovereign crisis and global growth concerns.

The sentiment remained bearish on heavy panic selling on the back of a worldwide meltdown. The prospect of a double-dip global recession led the key indices to touch the 14-month lower level.

Sensex movements: Following global trend, the Sensex opened the trade 343 points lower at 17350 - worst start in the last two years. The index trimmed some losses and hit the day’s high of 17358 in the mid-morning session. Again, the index continued to post losses and touched the day’s low of 16991 in late morning trade on extreme selling pressure across the board. In the last couple of hours, the Sensex witnessed recovery on the back of expectations that the US may see a bounce back on payroll and employment numbers that will be announced later today. The Sensex tanked 387 points to close at 17306 and the Nifty plunged 121 points to settle at 5211.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was very bad, with 2,365 shares falling, 556 shares rising and 68 shares remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

An infrastructure firm - Lanco Infratech was traded the most, with over 0.53 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.49 crore shares), a Navratna state-owned electric utility company - Power Grid Corporation of India (0.43 crore shares), India's leading real estate company - Unitech (0.43 crore shares) and a Jaypee Group firm - Jaiprakash Associates (0.43 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the sectoral indices ended with deep cuts. BSE Information Technology (IT) slid by 3.93%, BSE TECk fell by 3.38% and BSE Realty slipped by 3.13%. Rest of the sectors fell between 1.15-3.09%.

In 'A' group shares, top three gainers were - NMDC surged by 3.16%, Petronet LNG rose by 2.84% and Shriram Transport Finance Company up by 2.72%. Top three losers were - Reliance Infrastructure tumbled by 7.43%, Educomp Solutions down by 7.21% and Reliance Communications slipped by 7.16%.

Global signals

The European stocks took a battering across the board on Friday, with investors dumping risky assets amid worries about euro-zone debt and the potential for a double-dip recession, and ahead of the release of non-farm payrolls.

The Asian indices ended on a weak note on Friday on the back of concerns about global economy. The Nikkei tumbled to their lowest since the post-quake rout in March.

The US stock index futures point to a weak opening on the Wall Street on Friday.
Market Outlook: US Non Farm Payrolls and Unemployment Rate will be released on Friday.