The Hindu : Front Page : Sensex closes below 16000-mark

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Sensex closes below 16000-mark

Special Correspondent

Increasing credit woes, rising oil prices and U.S. recession trigger selling

Oil prices continue to rule above
$100 a barrel
Dollar at all time low against
major currencies

— PHOTO: AP

A WORRIED LOT: Onlookers watch share prices on a screen on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai on Friday.

MUMBAI: Stock prices fell sharply on Friday and the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) closed below the 16000-mark on global clues, increasing credit woes, rising oil prices and U.S. recession.

Stocks, led by realty, power, banking and metal sectors, plunged to their lows in intra-day, pulling the Sensex down by 846.63 points to 15696.45 and the 50-share NSE Nifty by 245.95 points to 4675.45.

Later, the Sensex recovered to close at 15975.52 recording a loss of 566.56 points or 3.42 per cent compared to its previous close.

State Bank of India and other public sector banks recorded heavy losses on Finance Minister P. Chidambaram asking them to reduce interest rates on housing loans on Wednesday in New Delhi. There is a fear among market participants that a reduction in interest rates of housing loans will impact the profit margins of these banks. ICICI Bank, among private sector banks, also reported heavy losses compared to its peers in Asia.

The sub-prime connected credit woes are still troubling banks in the U.S. and Europe. Dutch-Belgian financial services group, Fortis, said that its profit halved in the fourth quarter after a $2.3 billion sub-prime-related write-down.

In the global market, oil prices continued at rule above $100 a barrel.

Further the U.S. dollar fell to all-time lows against major currencies, including the euro.

Global indices

Among global indices, emerging market index, MSCIEF, lost 2.2 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei average closed down 3.27 per cent. In the U.S., NYSE Composite was down by 2.20 per cent, Nasdaq Composite by 2.30 per cent and S&P 500 by 2.20 per cent.

In the domestic market, broad-based indices also recorded huge falls: BSE Midcap lost 309.79 points or 4.35 per cent at 6804.39, BSE Smallcap lost 400.61 points or 4.55 per cent at 8409.18 and the BSE-500 lost 258.62 points at 6354.94.

Interestingly, all sectoral indices closed in the negative territory: Realty was down by 6.64 per cent at 7782.38; Power by 5.57 per cent at 3155.16; Bankex by 4.92 per cent; Automobile by 4.44 per cent at 4634.70; metal by 3.51 per cent at 15453.60; and IT by 3.04 per cent at 3638.44.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page