A deluge of losers

STOCKS REPORT

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex collapsed by 842.37 points on Monday to the day's low of 4227.50 in intra-day trades. This was also its largest intra-day fall. The index recovered to close at 4505.16, down 11.14 per cent (564.71 points) over Friday's close.

The breadth of the market was extremely negative, with losers outpacing gainers in the 10:1 ratio on the BSE. The 30-scrip Sensex basket had 29 losers, with only Zee Telefilms bucking the trend with a gain of 6.44 per cent to Rs 120.65.

The market capitalisation of the stock market recorded its biggest ever single-day fall of Rs 1,22,921 crore (Rs 1.23 trillion) to Rs 9,49,978 crore.

The BSE Capital Goods Sector index fell 14.58 per cent, followed by the Bankex down 13.48 per cent, BSE PSU Index down 13.34 per cent and the IT Sector Index down 12.42 pert cent.

Reliance Energy was the biggest loser among Sensex stocks, down 25.55 per cent to Rs 477.55, followed by HDFC Bank down 20.63 per cent to Rs 286.25, BHEL down 20.32 per cent to Rs 398.30, Tata Power down 19.09 per cent to Rs 261.55 and Wipro down 18.36 per cent to Rs 1,261.85.

Reliance Industries was down 15.35 per cent to Rs 403.60, Hindustan Lever fell 15.02 per cent to Rs 120.25, State Bank of India down 13.18 per cent to Rs 447 and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation fell 12.84 per cent to Rs 629.75.

Lack of buying was visible with the traded volume sharply lower today. The cash market turnover was at Rs 2,059.30 crore on the BSE and Rs 4,032.15 crore on the National Stock exchange (NSE).

A record 291 scrips hit their lower circuit in intra-day trades during the day.

Fears that economic reforms will suffer with a Left-supported government at the Centre led to the market tanking today. Marketwide circuit filters were hit twice with the trading on the BSE and NSE halted twice.

The trading was first halted when both the bourses crashed by 10 per cent. They crashed again by 15 per cent, when trading resumed after a one-hour halt.

Market participants also point to factors such as the triggering of margin calls for the fall. According to brokers, margin calls were hit when stock prices witnessed a free-fall adding that rising oil prices, fears of a hike in the US interest rates and a backlash from an overheated Chinese economy continued to weigh heavily on investor sentiment.