Fears of a global credit squeeze continued to haunt the domestic stock market on Thursday as the BSE Sensex plunged 642 points in its second-biggest fall ever on massive selling pressure triggered by concerns of spreading US subprime mortgage sector crisis.
As soon as the market resumed trading, the Sensex fell 415.99 points as it mirrored the impact of a fresh global stocks meltdown. Bourses worldwide crumbled on selling triggered by the turmoil in US credit markets after two other American mortgage lenders seemed to be in trouble.
The Bombay Stock Exchange barometer fluctuated in a range of 14,584.92 and 14,345.03 before ending the day at 14,358.21, a net fall of 4.28 per cent from Tuesday’s close. This is the biggest fall of the year and the second largest in the history of the stock exchange.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) nose-dived by 191.60 points or 4.38 per cent to close at a two-month low of 4,178.60 from previous close of 4,370.20. Market players said fresh selling onslaught was triggered by fears of a global credit crunch that led to consistent pull out by FIIs.
