Sensex Down 190000 Points - Ever in History
The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled by over 334 points in opening trade on Friday, extending Wednesday's losses on concerns over slowing industrial growth and a weakening trend in the rest of Asia amid renewed worries about the euro zone debt crisis.The 30-share Sensex, which lost nearly 389 points in Wednesday's trade, plunged by 334.27 points, or 2.02 per cent, to 16,153.97 in opening trade on Friday.
In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index declined by 91.20 points, or 1.84 per cent, to 4,852.45.
All the sectoral indices were trading in the negative zone with losses of up to 2.14 per cent, led by financial and metal stocks.
Brokers said the market sentiment was badly dampened by reports that industrial output contracted during October, in addition to a weakening trend on other Asian bourses following overnight losses in the US on fading hopes for a speedy resolution to the euro zone's debt crisis.
In the Asia region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 1.90 per cent and Japan's Nikkei index lost 1.70 per cent in morning trade on Friday. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.63 per cent lower in Wednesday's trade. PTI SUN
Growth in the September quarter had slipped to 6.9 per cent, the weakest pace in more than 2 years, and many private-sector economists have slashed their growth forecasts to about 7.5 percent for the full year.
India's industrial output likely shrank 0.5 percent in October from the same month a year ago, its first decline in over two years, hurt by a slowdown in export growth, a Reuters poll showed. The data is due on Monday.
By 11:30 a.m. (0600 GMT), the 30-share BSE index was down 1.4 per cent at 16,257.4, with all but two of its components in the red. The benchmark had fallen as much as 2 percent at one stage.
"Indian stocks are like a cycle stand," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Investments and Advisors. "If one falls, others follow suit."
Energy major Reliance Industries , which has the heaviest weight in the main index, fell more than 2 percent after Nomura downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'buy', citing worsening exploration and production possibilities and declining refining margins.
Private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank fell more than 1.5 percent as slackening growth and a vulnerable rupee, which had hit a record low last month, drove investors away from stocks.
Brokerage Macquarie said it would continue to be bearish on the Indian banking sector because of deteriorating asset quality and a possible tightening of margins due to an increase in savings rate.
The Reserve Bank of India is widely expected to pause at its meeting next Friday after raising rates 13 times since early 2010 to fight stubborn inflation.
The rupee, which is the worst performing Asian currency this year, fell as much as 1 percent in early trade.
Shares in export-focused software services company Infosys shed nearly 1 percent, while smaller rival Wipro was down 0.6 percent.
The 50-share NSE index fell 1.37 percent to 4,876.2. In the broader market, there were 2.7 losers for each gainer on a total volume of 223.6 million shares.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was trading down 2.5 percent on growing doubts that European leaders can forge a credible borrowing scheme to tackle the euro zone's debt crisis at a summit in Brussels.
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