COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Global plunge takes Sensex under 3000; down 112 points, 2896.14

Smart performance by petrochemical giant Reliance Industries Limited and the finance minister's statement expressing hope of lifting up of sanctions failed to boost market sentiments as the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex crashed by 112 points today following a selling spree by foreign institutional investors at the pivotal counters.

Major fall at the Tokyo Stock Exchange and reports of weak opening in London also aided the bearish trend on the country's premier bourse.

Assistant director at the Jardine Fleming Asset Management Company Vasudev Joshi attributed the fresh fall in stock to domestic reasons.

Foreign financial institutions sold heavily blue chips like Hindustan Lever, ITC, Infosys Tech, Satyam Computers and most of the index-based shares, leading BSE brokers said.

The UTI, which was one of the big buyers for the last two days, did not indulge in aggressive buying, they added.

Reflecting the bearish trend, the 30-scrip BSE Sensitive Index opened at 3029.10 points, touched the day's high of 3045.54, fell below the psychological barrier of 3000 and touched the day's low of 2896.14 and remained stagnant at the day's low level till close, registering a net loss of 112.49 points against the previous close of 3008.63.

At Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average fell sharply by about 800 points at 13026. London Stock Index also reported loss of 150 points in the opening hour, traders said.

The RIL scrip opened higher at Rs 115.60 at the BSE and ended lower at 108.50, registering a loss of Rs 6.30 over the previous close of Rs 114.80. The scrip also declined by Rs 6.10 to close at Rs 108.45 on the National Stock Exchange against Wednesday's close of Rs 114.55.

Leading BSE brokers attributed the fall in RIL shares to the general bearish trend prevailing upon the bourses due to various other reasons.

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's statement in Washington expressing hope that the Clinton administration would soon lift sanctions also failed to convince market participants on the bourses, a leading stock broker said.

The broad-based BSE-100 index declined by 47.60 points to 1295.51 points from the previous close of 1343.11 points, while the BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed lower by 9.69 and 3.58 points to 302.95 and 119.04 points against the previous close of 312.64 and 122.62 points respectively.

Total turnover on the screen-based BOLT sysem rose sharply to Rs 16.05 billion from yesterday's turnover of Rs 15.65 billion. Tobacco giant ITC clocked the highest turnover of Rs 3.62 billion, followed by Satyam Computers Rs 2.81 billion, Zee Telefilms Rs 2.03 billion, Stata Bank Rs 1.10 billion and Pentafour Software Rs 869.5 million.

Other actively traded scrips were Reliance (Rs 821.2 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 615.5 million), Castrol India (Rs 308.5 million), MTNL (Rs 224.5 million), Infosys Technology (Rs 214.7 million), NIIT (Rs 201,6 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 195.7 million), ACC (Rs 190.3 million), BHEL (Rs 185.5 million) and L&T (Rs 177.2 million).

UNI