Sensex dips on US recession

The benchmark Sensex, which was crashed by over 700 points below 17K-mark to 14-month low of 16,990.91 in early afternoon trade due to global bloodbath on fears of a possible US double recession, recovered about 315 points to end at 17,305.87, still showing a fall of over 387 points, stretching losses for the fourth straight day.The market was already under heavy selling pressure in last few days on lingering European debt woes as well as rising inflation at home, suffered a further setback on concerns over the global economic growth, expecting the world was heading towards another financial crisis. Selling was seen across-the-spectrum as all 13 sectoral indices finished with sharp to marked losses. IT, Teck, realty, power, CD and metal counters suffered the most. The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer opened with sharp downside gap of over 340 points and tumbled to a low of 16,990.91, level not seen since June 10, 2010 when it had touched an intra-day low of 16,668.91.However, it later recovered after government said that the Indian bourses would recover soon as fundamentals of the economy remained strong and the markets were reacting in a panic mode due to plunge in overseas markets. It, finally ended at 14-month low of 17,305.87, down by 387.31 points or 2.19 per cent. In straight four trading days, the sensex has lost a whopping 1,008.46 points or 5.50 per cent. Similarly, the broader NSE 50-issue Nifty also plunged by 120.55 points or 2.26 per cent to settle at 5,211.25, level not seen since June 14, 2010 when had closed at 5,197.70. Analysts said that investors are concerned over possible impact on Indian companies due to the continuing uncertainty in the US and the overnight fall in the Wall Street, which witnessed its worst fall in about two-and-a-half years on Thursday. Export oriented as also interest rate related companies suffered the most. IT shares bore the brunt of heavy selling as these companies gets major part of their revenue from US and UK. Sectoral BSE-IT index was the top loser with a fall of 3.93 per cent. FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 254.55 crore yesterday as per provisional data, after pulling out Rs 801.10 crore on August 3, which also partly affected the sentiment.Overall, 27 of the 30 index-based counters ended in the red while others closed with small gains. REL Infra was the top loser from the sensex pack with a fall of 7.43 per cent. REL Com, Sterlite Ind, Tata Steel, Infosys Tech, Jaipra Asso, BHEL, TCS, DLF, M&M, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, RIL, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, ITC, HDFC and SBI ended down by between 7.43 per cent and 1.09 per cent. From / Gulf Today