Oct 24, 2008

India - Intense selling pulls Nifty,Sensex each down 10%

Mandar Nimkar

MUMBAI: Intense selling on deepening concern that the economic slump will deteriorate corporate earnings, pushed indices around the global to two yea
r lows. Japan’s Nikkei was at a 5-year low.

In India, benchmarks plunged 10 per cent each as players sold frenziedly across the counters.

Despite Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s request to investors not to sell in panic markets plunged headlong. After the turn of FIIs, long-only funds too have started selling, triggering today’s fire sale.

All sectoral indicators were in red. Realty, banking, oil & gas, metal, power and auto were down more than 10 per cent. Top index losers were Hindalco Industries (-20.95%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-18.24%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-17.59%), and Tata Motors (-16.41%).

From realty sector, despite Unitech's clarification on the land payments to the Greater Noida Development Authority, the stock slumped 52 per cent, DLF dropped 25 per cent and HDIL fell 12 per cent.

Despite crude oil correcting about 55 per cent from its all time high of $147 per barrel, oil & gas companies are feeling the heat as slowing economies have cut demand.

Banking stocks dropped as RBI's stance of keeping key rate unchanged dampened investor sentiments.

“These levels are now quite unseen; it's difficult to verbalise this situation right now. Supply is coming at every level, no matter what the valuation. There is no meaning to say whether we have touched bottom or not, but just to wait and watch. Earlier there were companies filing for bankruptcy, but now countries like Pakistan, Russia, Iceland and Argentina are on the verge of bankruptcy. In a nutshell, the present is horrifying," said Arun Kumar, analyst at Global One Hedge Fund.

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