Current Change
The Sensex recorded one of its biggest single session fall (in absolute terms) as it crashed by a stunning 717.43 points to 17,998.39 today. The Nifty plunged 3.75% or 208.30 points to 5351.
There was no hint of the afternoon massacre this morning. And, the mood was nothing short of bullish in early afternoon trade either. So sharp was the rise in prices of a few frontline stocks, some heavyweights included, that the Sensex went on to hit a new all-time high at 19,198.66 this afternoon.
The National Stock Exchange's 50 stock Nifty index raced to a new high as well.
But the euphoria proved very short-lived. First the mood turned cautious. And then, the bears, turning in large numbers, went berserk and hammered down stocks cutting across sectors. Reeling under the impact, the Sensex nosedived to 17,771.16, a loss of around 1427 points from its historic high. The Nifty, which hit a high of 5736.80, crashed to 5269.65.
The market, which had shrugged off concerns over a possible drop in inflow from FIIs following the market regulator SEBI's move to cap investments through Participatory Notes and re-wrote history by hitting new highs in early afternoon trade today, wilted under a severe bout of pressure that erupted on certain rumours with regard to margins in the derivatives segment.
ACC reported a net profit of Rs 292.42 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 as compared to a net profit of Rs 224.81 crore it had recorded for the quarter ended September 30, 2006. But the stock plunged to a low of Rs 1,000 in afternoon trade and was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack as it settled at Rs 1036, around 13.85% down from its previous closing price.
Reliance Energy, which raced to a high of Rs 1847, crashed to Rs 1591.35, netting a big loss of 9.7%. State Bank of India lost around 8.25%. Bharti Airtel (down 7.65%), ICICI Bank (down 6.95%), NTPC (down5.55%), Hindalco (down 5.55%), HDFC Bank (down 5.5%), BHEL (down 4.4%) and Larsen & Toubro (down 4.35%) declined sharply.
Reliance Industries, which zoomed to a new high at Rs 2805, ended with a sharp loss of 4.25% at Rs 2575.90. Tata Steel, Reliance Communications, ONGC, Grasim Industries, Ambuja Cements, Tata Motors, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Udyog lost 2% - 4% today. Bajaj Auto, HDFC and ITC eased by 0.75% - 1%.
Pharma stock Ranbaxy Laboratories zoomed sharply on strong quarterly results before surrendering almost its entire gains. It settled with a modest gain of 0.4% in the end. Cipla and Dr.Reddy's Laboratories moved up by 1.8% and 1.05% respectively.
Tata Consultancy Services closed with a sharp gain of 2.2% thanks to the company signing a deal worth $1.2 billion with Nielsen Company for outsourcing a portion of the latter's information technology and operations functions worldwide. Wipro (2.2%) and Satyam Computer Services (1.2%) also closed on a winning note while Infosys Technologies ended around its previous closing price.
Tata Power, Suzlon Energy, Zee Entertainment, SAIL, Punjab National Bank, Siemens, Nalco, GAIL India, Unitech, VSNL and Reliance Petroleum were among the big losers from the Nifty.
Hero Honda, Sterlite Industries, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, BPCL lost 1% - 2%. HCL Technologies ended lower by 0.65%. GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, ABB and MTNL finished with notable gains. Sun Pharmaceuticals moved up by 3.6%.
At one stage today, when the bulls were having a ball, the market breadth was very strong with advances outscoring declines by nearly 4 to 1. However, as the bears stepped in and caused havoc, the breadth turned quite negative and when trade ended for the day, out of 2824 stocks transacted on BSE today, as many as 1716 stocks had slipped into the red. 1053 stocks closed with gains and 55 stocks settled at their previous closing levels.
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