Global meltdown leads to market crash

The market witnessed the biggest carnage today, as widespread selling caused the index slip below the 15,500 mark shortly after the opening bell. A sharp slump across the international markets saw the Sensex resume 288 points lower at 15,488 and shed 616 points to touch the day's low of 15,160. The market soon moved above the 15,250 level but traded below 15,500 through the session as intense selling continued in metal, realty, capital goods, oil and other counters. The Sensex finally ended the session with a loss of 542 points at 15235. The Nifty, too, came under selling pressure and lost 175 points to close at 4445.

The market breadth was extremely weak, with losers outnumbering gainers by 3.44:1 on the BSE. Of the 2,576 stocks traded on the BSE 1,951 stocks declined, 570 stocks advanced and 55 stocks ended unchanged. All the BSE sectoral indices continued to trade weak and dropped around 2-5% each. The BSE Metal Index was the major loser and lost 5.53% while the BSE Realty Index shed 5.11%.

Majority of the 30 stocks of the Sensex ended in the red. Among the major losers Tata Steel shed 7.83% at Rs648, Reliance Communication plunged 6.30% at Rs534, Hindalco crumbled 5.47% at Rs173, HDFC crashed 5.21% at Rs1,946, BHEL slipped by 5.14% at Rs1,665, Reliance Energy tumbled 4.99% at Rs760, Tata Motors lost 4.60% at Rs697, L&T dropped nearly 4.48% at Rs2,428, ONGC slumped 4.38% at Rs905 and Satyam Computer crashed 4.37% at Rs473. Select front-line counters ended in the green. ITC rose 3.12% at Rs172 while Ranbaxy and Ambuja Cement closed with moderate gains.

Metal stocks witnessed a steep fall. Shree Precoated Steel plummeted 7.23% at Rs358, while Hindustan Zinc crashed 5.55% at Rs704. SAIL at Rs148, Jindal Saw at Rs655, Welspun Gujrat at Rs246, Sterlite Industries at Rs628, Jindal Stainless at Rs166 and Nalco at Rs280 tumbled over 4% each. Among the realty stocks Parsvanath Developers plunged 7.21% at Rs359, Peninsula land fell by 6.14% at Rs455, Unitech lost 5.75% at Rs559, Ansal Infrstructure shed 5.64% at Rs265 and Indiabulls Real Estate declined 5.47% at Rs564.

Over 2.41 crore IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Bellary Steel (2.31 crore shares), Suryachakra Power Corporation (1.70 crore shares), Mangalore Chemical & Fertilizers (1.29 crore shares) and Harig Crankshafts (1.08 crore shares).

Valuewise, Reliance Industries registered a turnover of Rs414 crore followed by Housing Development & Infrastructure (Rs296 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs239 crore), DLF (Rs235 crore) and L&T (Rs172 crore).