Metal, mining, banking and power sector stocks led steep losses for key benchmark indices. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 591.19 points or 2.26% to 25,601.79, as per provisional closing data. The 50-unit CNX Nifty fell 165.10 points or 2.07% at 7,812, as per provisional closing data. The Sensex fell below the psychological 26,000 mark. The Nifty failed to retain the psychological 8,000 after surpassing that level in intraday trade. A setback in European stocks and US index futures triggered heavy losses for Indian stocks towards the latter part of the trading session. The Sensex and Nifty, both, hit their lowest level in more than a week as index heavyweights L&T, Reliance Industries and HDFC dropped. Until early afternoon trade, the Sensex and Nifty hovered in positive zone.
The Sensex tumbled 607.34 points at the day's low of 25,585.64 in late trade. The Nifty fell 189.35 points at the day's low of 7,787.75 in late trade. Car makers led a sharp slide in European stocks after French Finance Minister Michel Sapin reportedly called for a probe of the auto sector in Europe in the wake of German auto maker Volkswagen AG admitting to rig emission tests in the US. South Korea has decided to launch a probe into Volkswagen's diesel cars and the US government has decided to expand its pollution-skirting investigation to other car makers, according to news reports. Late last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board (EPA and CARB) revealed their findings that while testing diesel cars of the Volkswagen Group they have detected manipulations that violate American environmental standards. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow Jones Industrial Average could slide 239 points at the opening bell today, 22 September 2015.
Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,708 shares fell and 980 shares rose. A total of 108 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index lost 1.76%. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.28%. The decline in both these indices was lower than Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 2718 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 2357.71 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) fell 2.84% to Rs 201.50. The company's Chairman & Managing Director Mr. B. Prasada Rao said at the 51st Annual General Meeting of the company today, 22 September 2015, that faster execution and on time delivery are indispensable to sustain market leadership in the power equipment sector and that the company has already augmented its capacity for power plant equipment manufacturing to 20,000 megawatts per annum. To capitalize on the opportunities in the defence sector, Bhel has formed a consortium with Mishra Dhatu Nigam and Hindustan Shipyards for jointly bidding for indigenously building P-75 (I) submarines for the Indian Navy. The R&D expenditure of the company has consistently been more than 2.5% of the turnover for more than 5 years now. For the year ended 31 March 2015, Bhel invested Rs 1019 crore on R&D, and recorded a turnover of Rs 7300 crore from in-house developed products and services, Rao said.
Index heavyweight and construction major L&T fell 4.34% to Rs 1,484.45. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,562.95 and a low of Rs 1,480.60 in intraday trade.
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Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 3.67% to Rs 845.50. The stock hit a high of Rs 884.45 and a low of Rs 845 in intraday trade.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC fell 3.33% to Rs 1,166.70. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,216.40 and a low of Rs 1,163.75 in intraday trade.
Tata Motors fell 4.79% to Rs 315.70 after calls for a wider probe globally of the auto industry in the wake of Volkswagen AG admitting to rig emission tests in the US. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday, 18 September 2015, that the Volkswagen AG used software that deceived regulators measuring toxic emissions and could face penalties of up to $18 billion.
Metal and mining shares tumbled. Hindalco Industries (down 6.09%), Vedanta (down 6.04%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.99%), Tata Steel (down 3.02%), NMDC (down 2.12%), Steel Authority of India (down 1.93%), Hindustan Copper (down 1.5%), JSW Steel (down 1.38%), Hindustan Zinc (down 1.26%), Bhushan Steel (down 1.11%) and National Aluminium Company (Nalco) (down 1.09%), edged lower.
Shares of state-run coal mining giant Coal India lost 5.33%.
Power generation stocks slumped. Jaiprakash Power Ventures (down 6.02%), NTPC (down 4.62%), CESC (down 3.42%), Reliance Power (down 3.17%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.14%), GMR Infrastructure (down 2.6%), Tata Power (down 2.48%), JSW Energy (down 2.37%), Torrent Power (down 2.27%), Adani Power (down 0.81%) and NHPC (down 0.3%), edged lower.
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