The 30-share Sensex fell by 435.07 points at 14,522.84 after hitting the day’s low of 14,447.02 on heavy selling in last 30 minutes of trading due to worries about the US President’s remarks.
In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index cracked the crucial 4,400 points level to trade at 4,356.15, losing 161.65 points.
Market participants were withdrawing their investment from the market, fearing that a similar run may not be repeated till the Budget on July 6, brokers said. The selling spree happened as President Barack Obama, ahead of his final dose to the economy, said the unemployment rate will rise to 10 per cent in the US, the largest market for India’s software business. Marketmen said Obama will unveil plans for reshaping the US financial regulation late on Wednesday night.
Pre- close dip
The benchmark Sensex tumbled over 500 points pre-close trading on Wednesday. The 30-share Sensex fell by 507.07 points at 14,450.84. Also, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 185.00 points at 4,332.80 at 1515 hrs. The realty sector suffered the most by losing 5.90 per cent to 3,386.50 followed by metal index by 5.63 per cent at 11,288.50 as most of the metal stocks tumbled on weaken base-metal prices in the London Metal Exchange. The public sector undertaking index was third worst performer losing 4.29 per cent to 8,113.63, oil and gas index lost by 4.26 per cent to 9,514.37, capital goods by 3.95 per cent to 12,176.65 and power by 3.32 per cent to 9,822.22.
The consumer durable index fell by 3.24 per cent to 2,892.31, auto by 2.49 per cent to 4,718.81, teck by 2.49 per cent to 2,590.27, banking by 2.19 per cent to 8,023.11, FMCG by 2.06 per cent to 2,237.96 and IT by 1.97 per cent to 3,197.03 and healthcare by 1.56 per cent to 3,613.53. With the general weakening trend, midcap index lost 3.92 per cent to 5,021.07 and smallcap by 3.74 per cent to 5,786.54.