Indian shares crash on fears of US recession

Monday, 21 January 2008, 20:30 IST
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Mumbai: Indian equities registered one of the steepest falls ever during intra-day trading on Monday, resulting in a key index shedding close to 2,000 points, as bears tightened their grip on the market amid worrying global cues. About half-hour before the end of trading, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was ruling at 17,621.40 points after a loss of 1,392.30 points, or 7.32 percent, over the previous day's close. This actually marked a small recovery for the index, which had plunged almost 2,000 points at 16,951.50 points midway into the trading session, with not a single scrip in the 30-share basket trading in positive territory. "There is absolute panic. Fear has taken over, as possible recession in the US is appearing to be around the horizon. Heavy selling by foreign funds is also adding to the gloom," said an analyst with a leading brokerage here. Over the past week, the barometer index has shed as much as 3,031.30 points, or 14.62 percent, indicating the level of pessimism that has gripped the equities market in the country. The previous steepest fall was on Oct 17 when the index shed 1,743 points due to the markets watchdog's purported move to impose restrictions on the unregistered funds that were operating through participatory notes. The index for metal firms was the worst hit, losing over 13 percent, followed by those for realty, down 12.99 percent, oil and gas, down 11.61 percent, power, down 10.75 percent and public sector units, down 10.01 percent. NTPC Ltd led the losers among Sensex stocks, down 15.09 percent, followed by Reliance Energy, down 14.79 percent, ACC, down 14.41 percent, Reliance Communications, down 12.13 percent and DLF, down 10.02 percent.
Source: IANS