Mirroring negative cues from the global markets, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 237 points at 9,535.
Ahead of the credit policy the index were down around 400 points and soon after RBI announcement the index extended losses and crashed below the 9,000-mark on the back of a fresh round of heavy selling.
The RBI today kept key rates unchanged, while it lowered GDP target to 7.5-8% for 2008-09.
Credit Policy alone, wasn't the cause of today's downfall. Markets across the globe logged heavy losses today. Japan's Nikkei shed 9.6% (812 points) to 7,649. Hang Seng plunged 6% (822 points) to 12,939. The Seoul Composite index tumbled 10.5% (111 points) to 939.
The Sensex slumped to a low of 8,567 - down 1,205 points from the previous close - towards the fag end of the day. The index finally ended with a hefty loss of 11% (1,071 points) at 8,701 - its third worst single-day loss percentage loss ever.
| WORST % FALLS IN HISTORY | ||||
| Date | Previous | Day's More From This Section | % | Net |
| 28-Apr-92 | 4467.32 | 3896.90 | -12.77 | -570.42 |
| 17-May-04 | 5069.87 | 4505.16 | -11.14 | -564.71 |
| 24-Oct-08 | 9771.7 | 8701.07 | -10.96 | -1070.7 |
| 12-May-92 | 3420.05 | 3086.37 | -9.76 | -333.68 |
| 15-Oct-90 | 1402.73 | 1280.18 | -8.74 | -122.55 |
| 6-May-92 | 3887.72 | 3560.72 | -8.41 | -327.00 |
| 31-Mar-97 | 3663.53 | 3360.89 | -8.26 | -302.64 |
In the process, the index today ended the week with a loss of 12.8% (1,274 points), and the index is now down over 57% (11,586 points) so far this year.
The BSE Realty index nose-dived over 24% to 1,743. The Oil & Gas index plunged 15% to 5,152. The Bankex shed 12.6% at 4,650, and the Metal index tanked 12% to 4,394.
| 800 PTS PLUS FALLS THIS YEAR | ||||
| Date | Previous | Day's | % | Net |
| 21-Jan-08 | 19013.70 | 17605.35 | -7.41 | -1408.35 |
| 24-Oct-08 | 9771.70 | 8701.07 | -10.96 | -1070.63 |
| 17-Mar-08 | 15760.52 | 14809.49 | -6.03 | -951.03 |
| 3-Mar-08 | 17578.72 | 16677.88 | -5.12 | -900.84 |
| 22-Jan-08 | 17605.35 | 16729.94 | -4.97 | -875.41 |
| 11-Feb-08 | 17464.89 | 16630.91 | -4.78 | -833.98 |
| 10-Oct-08 | 11328.36 | 10527.85 | -7.07 | -800.51 |
The market breadth was extremely negative with almost nine stocks for every advancing share - out of 2,628 stocks traded, 2,322 declined, 260 advanced and 46 were unchanged today.
MAJOR INDEX SHAKERS...
11 out of the 30 index stocks were down over 15% each.
DLF nose-dived 24% to Rs 204. Ranbaxy and Hindalco crashed 18% each at Rs 189 and Rs 43, respectively.
Tata Motors and Reliance slumped 16.5% each to Rs 163 and Rs 1,015, respectively.
Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Communications tumbled 16% each to Rs 287 and Rs 193, respectively.
ICICI Bank, ONGC, Sterlite and Reliance Infrastructure plunged around 15% each to Rs 310, Rs 660, Rs 209 and Rs 381, respectively.
...OTHER INDEX SHAKERS
Only nine out of the 30 index stocks managed to record loss of less than 10% each.
Tata Power slipped over 14% to Rs 625. Wipro shed 13.6% at Rs 235.
Bharti Airtel dropped over 13% to Rs 534, and SBI declined 12.7% to Rs 1,156.
Jaiprakash Associates tumbled over 12% to Rs 60. Grasim plunged nearly 11% to Rs 1,053.
HDFC and TCS declined 10.5% each to Rs 1,573 and Rs 490, respectively. Maruti was down almost 10% at Rs 534.
Muhurat trading on Oct 28 for Samavat 2065
...AND THOSE OUTSIDE THE INDEX
Unitech more than halved in today's trading to Rs 30 as against its yesterday's closing price of Rs 62. Puravankara slumped 44.3% to Rs 49. Suzlon Energy crashed 39% to Rs 47.
IVRCL Infrastructure, Kalyani Steel, UTV Software, IFCI, Orbit Corporation, National Aluminium, Wire & Wireless, Kotak Bank, Parsvanth, Lanco Infrastructure, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Moser Baer, Allcargo Global, ENT Network, Suashis Diamond and Glenmark Pharma were down 20-29% each.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 381.25 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 241.25 crore), SBI (Rs 235.80 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 164.50 crore) and Suzlon Energy (Rs 140 crore).
Suzlon Energy led the volume chart with trades of around 2.50 crore shares followed by Unitech (2.35 crore), Hindalco (1.78 crore), IFCI (1.38 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (1.34 crore).