Mumbai, May 19 (Inditop.com) A benchmark index for Indian equities Wednesday slumped to its lowest level since March this year, ending 467 points lower on falling investors’ risk appetite.
Extreme negative global cues weighed heavily on Indian markets after Germany announced tighter financial regulations, banning short selling government bonds and financial institutions, and Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe’s currency is at risk. All this fuelled concern that global economic recovery may be derailed.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,802.39 points, closed at 16,408.49 points, 467.27 points or 2.77 percent down from its previous close at 16,875.76 points.
Metal, realty, banking and auto scrips were among the hardest hit with all the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE showing losses.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended at 4,919.65 points, down 2.89 percent from its previous close.
Broader markets also came under selling pressure with the BSE midcap index closing 2.55 percent lower and the BSE smallcap index 2.54 percent down.
ICICI Bank’s scrip ended trade a whopping 7.24 percent lower at Rs.825, as traders reacted negatively to its proposed takeover of Bank of Rajasthan.
Analysts believe ICICI bank is paying a high price for Bank of Rajasthan, at Rs.188.42 per share, a premium of 89 percent to the smaller bank’s closing price on Tuesday.
Bank of Rajasthan’s stock, however, soared 20 percent to touch the upper filter at Rs.119.40 in morning trade. Trading on the scrip was halted for the rest of the day.
Prominent losers on the 30-scrip Sensex included Tata Motors, down 7.39 percent at Rs.286.95; Sterlite Industries, down 7.33 percent at Rs.637.50; M&M, down 5.92 percent at Rs.526.65; and Reliance Communications, down 5.66 percent at Rs.136.80.
The gainers were Hero Honda, up 0.59 percent at Rs.1,850; Cipla, up 0.29 percent at Rs.312.15; and Tata Power, up 0.27 percent at Rs.1,305.70.
Earlier, Asian peers also had closed in the red.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shut shop 1.83 percent lower at 19,578.98 points, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite index closed 0.27 percent lower at 2,587.81 points.
The Japanese Nikkei ended 0.54 percent down at 10,186.84 points. The South Korean Kospi closed 0.8 percent lower at 1,630.08 points.
European traders too stepped up selling.
Britain’s key index FTSE 100 was ruling 2.27 percent lower at 5,186.71 points.
The French CAC 40 too was trading 2.79 percent down at 3,516.24 points and the German DAX was at 6,000.14 points, down 2.53 percent.
