Nifty, Sensex crash to 2013 lows

BSE Sensex closed at 19325, down 317 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 19554 and a day's low of 19317. It opened at 19549. The NSE Nifty closed at 5,852 down 91 points over the previous close. It earlier touched a day’s high of 5,921 and a day’s low of 5844. It opened at 5,909. The global sell-off took its toll on the Indian equity market, which ended at its lowest level in the calendar year on Thursday. Heavy sell off was seen in the index heavy weights like Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Reliance Infra, Sesa Goa, Hindalco and Maruti. The few stocks which bucked the trend were Bajaj Auto, Gail India and Cipla. Market sentiment took a beating after the Federal Reserve released the minute for its policy meeting held January 29-30, and raised market worries that the central bank may end QE3 measures earlier than expected. Stocks in Asia and Europe also witnessed selling pressure. The benchmark indices, after opening with a gap down, kept falling as the day progressed. Almost all the BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. The Metals stocks was among the top laggard, the index lost 3.2%, followed by BSE Banking index down 2.5% and BSE Capital Goods and Oil & Gas index losing 2% each. Finally, BSE Sensex closed at 19325, down 317 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 19554 and a day's low of 19317. It opened at 19549. The NSE Nifty closed at 5,852 down 91 points over the previous close. It earlier touched a day’s high of 5,921 and a day’s low of 5844. It opened at 5,909. RIL, Infosys, Wipro, NTPC, TCS, SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, Dr Reddys Lab, Tata Motors, Hindalco Inds, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and BHEL were among losers in Sensex and Nifty. The advance decline ratio was in favour of the bears. 1916 stocks declined against 913 advancing stocks. While 132 stocks remained unchanged. The INDIA VIX on NSE surged 8.5% to end at 16.94. It hit a day’s high of 17.25 and day's low of 15.25. Stocks which hit 52-week high during the week were Madras Cements, Finolex Inds, Malabar Trad, Blue Blend India and Hind Syntex. Stocks which hit 52 week low during the week were ABB, Gujarat Lease, Hindustan Oil, Maharashtra Seam and Oil Country Tub. Stocks in News ABB plunged by 6% to close at 574. The company posted a net profit of Rs. 167.70 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 as compared to Rs. 641.20 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. Total Income has decreased from Rs. 22269.20 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 to Rs. 20851 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Shares of HCL Technologies ended flat erasing early gains. The company announced a global alliance with hybris, the world’s fastest-growing commerce platform provider ranked “leader” by leading global analyst firms. This partnership will strengthen HCL’s portfolio to provide end-to-end omni-channel commerce solutions and integration services to its customers worldwide. It will also enable hybris to leverage HCL’s footprint in the Digital Media commerce market, its long-term relationships with many leading global businesses and infrastructure in markets in regions such as the Middle-East. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.77%, to 13,927, while Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.24 percent, to 1,512. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.53 percent, to end at 3,164. The Shanghai Composite index in china dropped nearly by 3% on Thursday on concerns that recent central bank behavior had signaled the beginning of a tightening cycle. According to reports, The People's Bank of China let a net 910 billion yuan ($145.89 billion) drain from the interbank market this week. The Nikkei index in Japan was down 1.5%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 1.8%, Straits Times ended lower 0.6% and Taiwan index fell 1%. Even the European market were trading with losses. The FTSE index in UK and the CAC index in France declined by 1.6% each and DAX index in Germany was trading lower by 1.8%.