The Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex on Thursday plunged over 430 points to close at a three-week low of 14, 243.73 points. Interest-sensitive stocks such as banking and realty were hammered as investors went on a selling spree, anticipating a rise in the inflation data.
After a brief respite yesterday, the 30-share Sensex dropped 434.50 points to 14,243.73 — the lowest level seen since July 31. The index had touched a low of 14,201.18 and a high of 14,646.98 points.
Yesterday, the barometer had spurted by over 100 points to snap five days of sustained selling. The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty also dropped by 131.90 points to 4,283.85 after touching a low of 4271.30 and a high of 4418.55 points.
State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and as many as 18 constituents in the banking sector fell sharply, dragging the Bankex to close lower by 5.16 per cent. SBI plummeted by 7.10 per cent to Rs 1342.45, while ICICI Bank lost 5.19 per cent to Rs 643.10. HDFC Bank also closed lower by 5.82 per cent to Rs 1165.80.
Marketmen said investors fear inflation would go up further and this coupled with a global economic slowdown would weaken economic growth. Crude oil prices rising to $117 a barrel also impacted the bourses.
Realty stocks also came under heavy selling pressure and sectoral majors DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate and Unitech lost ground, and the index closed the day lower by over 5 per cent.
PSU, power and consumer goods indices were other major casualties and they closed down in the range of 2-3 per cent.
As selling pressure spread over a wide front, small-cap index fell by 129.21 points at 6,937.02 and mid-cap index by 118.91 points at 5,707.46.
