The BSE Sensex tumbled 314 points to a six-week low of 16,461.7 on Thursday, thanks to all-round selling in equities, including heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Infosys and ICICI, as investor mood remained damp amid weak corporate earnings and shaky global economic environment. The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-scrip index, Sensex, which has lost 793 points in the last five sessions, dropped further by 314.16 points, or 1.87 per cent, to 16,461.71, a level last seen on October 7.
“A sharp dip in RIL pulled the market down. Overall, poor second quarter results posted by some leading companies on account of high interest rates and gloomy overseas markets have led to a fall of more than 1,100 points in Sensex in six sessions,” said Alex Matthews, research head at Geojit BNP Paribas.
Foreign institutional investors, the main market movers, sold shares worth Rs 488.89 crore yesterday, according to provisional data from exchanges. Major stock markets in Asia and Europe were down on continuing investor worries over the euro-zone debt crisis and fears of a global economic slowdown.
Markets in France, Germany and UK declined up to 1.48 per cent. While key indices in Japan and South Korea rose, they declined up to 1.04 per cent in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Among the sectoral indices, BSE oil & gas fell 3.4 per cent, followed by power (2.9 per cent), metal (2.5 per cent), realty (2.4 per cent), capital goods (2.2 per cent), PSU (2.1 per cent) and auto (1.8 per cent).
Other major Sensex losers were Maruti (4.44 per cent), BHEL (4.4 per cent), Sterlite (4 per cent), Tata Motors (3.9 per cent), DLF (3.3 per cent), Tata Power (2.8 per cent), Coal India (2.5 per cent), ITC (2.4 per cent) and NTPC (2.4 per cent).