Broad-based selling in the last two hours of trading today knocked off Rs 28,576 crore from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) market capitalisation, which, at the day's high, was ruling at Rs 7,64,150 crore.
The market came under all-round selling pressure immediately after the Sensex touched an intra-day 28-month high of 3750. The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 81 points off this peak to end the session at 3669, 53 points lower than Wednesday's close.
The State Bank of India scrip vaulted to a life-time high of Rs 433 per share in the first 30 minutes of trading, in reaction to the bank chairman's statement that the government was considering increasing the FII (foreign institutional investor) limit in the bank. The stock saw huge profit booking thereafter to close at Rs 417.40.
Other public sector bank stocks also declined on profit booking, with Punjab National Bank closing at Rs 169.05, from the intra-day high of Rs 184.40. Canara Bank closed at Rs 106.65 from its intra-day high of Rs 115.15, Bank of Baroda at Rs 132.95 from Rs 146.40 and State bank of Mysore finished the day at Rs 992.50 from Rs 1040.
Sensex heavyweight Reliance declined from the intra-day high of Rs 347.50 to close at Rs 337.60, even lower than the previous close of Rs 344.70. HPCL declined from Rs 358 to Rs 346.50 and Hindalco from Rs 807 to Rs 789.75.
Banks were the biggest losers in the market cap game, registering a loss of Rs 4,598 crore in the intra-day swing. Refineries lost Rs 3,950 crore, followed by the IT sector (down Rs 3,306 crore), diversified companies (down Rs 1,842 crore) and pharmaceuticals (down Rs 1,447 crore).
