JOIN USIt's a bears' day on the bourses
Key indices broke the psychological marks during the day, while managing to just claw back above that level and eventually BSE and NSE dropped 2.68 per cent and 2.61 per cent respectively at the day’s closing.
Nifty broke the psychological 4,700 mark during the day but recovered just above that, while the BSE Sensex slipped below the psychological 16,000 level –– a first close below the mark since early November 2009.
During the day, the sell-off was wide-based with all sectoral indices on BSE edging lower and the market breadth extremely weak.
The market staged a recovery from lower level after an initial sharp setback as US index futures rose. However, the intraday recovery proved short-lived. A weak start from European markets triggered a sell-off on the bourses in mid-afternoon trade and sustained selling pressure in the pivotals kept the market depressed in late trade.
The BSE 30-share Sensex was down 434.02 points or 2.68 per cent to 15,790.93 points, which is its lowest close in three months. The index fell 499.52 points at the day’s low of 15,725.43 in mid-afternoon trade, while it declined 2.39 points at the day’s high of 16,222.56 in early trade.
The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 126.70 points or 2.61 per cent to settle at 4718.65 points in the closing.
The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 2.60 percent to 6,347.37 points, outperforming the Sensex, while the BSE Small-Cap index declined 3.25 percent to 8,073.92 points, underperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was extremely weak, with as many as 2,410 shares declined as compared with 525 that rose but a total of 211 shares remained unchanged.
All the sectoral indices on BSE settled lower with chief losers being the BSE Metal index (down 4.26 per cent), the BSE Realty index (down 4.36 per cent), and the BSE PSU index (down 3.52 per cent).
The markets reported traded turnover of Rs 1,08,936.29 crore which included Rs 13,983.25 crore from the NSE cash segment, Rs 90,464.62 crore from NSE futures & options and the balance Rs 4,488.42 crore from the BSE cash segment.
Foreign marts
Meanwhile during the day at bourses abroad, European shares fell for the third straight day on Friday on the back of worries over the debt positions of Greece, Spain and Portugal. Asian shares plunged following an unexpected increase in US jobless claims and slide in commodities.
In the US, the Dow briefly fell below the crucial 10,000 mark, as stocks suffered their worst losses in more than nine months.
Back home, the country’s two top stock exchanges, NSE and BSE have decided to hold a special trading session on Saturday, as NSE is testing an upgraded trading system. Trading will begin at 11:00 am and end at 12:30 am.