Sensex ends at 2008 low, down 771 points

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 255 points at 15,873, and continued to drift deep into red as the day progressed on the back of weak global markets.

The index dipped below its January low of 15,332, and touched a low of 15,229. The Sensex finally ended the day at a fresh calendar year low of 15,357 - down 771 points (4.8%).
 

700+ point fall for Sensex
Date	Close	Prv Cls	Chg	% Chg
21-Jan-08	17605.4	19013.70	-1408.35	-7.41
03-Mar-08	16677.9	17578.72	-900.84	-5.12
22-Jan-08	16729.94	17605.4	-875.41	-4.97
11-Feb-08	16630.9	17464.9	-833.98	-4.78
18-May-06	11391.43	12217.81	-826.38	-6.76
13-Mar-08	15357.35	16127.98	-770.63	-4.78
17-Dec-07	19261.35	20030.83	-769.48	-3.84
18-Oct-07	17998.39	18715.8	-717.43	-3.83

The BSE Mid-cap and the Small-cap indices dropped around 5.5% each to 6,528 (down 382 points) and 8,075 (down 457 points), respectively.

The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 248 points (5%) at 4,624.

The BSE market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,708 stocks traded, 2,332 declined and 345 advanced on Thursday.

Asian markets decline

Other Asian markets were also weak on Thursday. The Hang Seng slumped nearly 5% (1,121 points) to 22,302. The Nikkei shed 3.3% (428 points) at 12,433. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 2.4% (99 points) to 3,971. The Taiwan Weighted, Straits Times and the Seoul Composite indices were down around 2.5-4% each.

Index shakers

DLF slumped almost 15% (Rs 106) to Rs 607.

Reliance Energy plunged nearly 10% (Rs 131) to Rs 1,197. Hindalco dropped 9.5% to Rs 174, and Tata Steel tumbled 9% to Rs 697.

Reliance Communications shed 7% at Rs 501. BHEL slipped 6.6% to Rs 1,883.

Wipro and SBI dropped over 6% each to Rs 365 and Rs 1,696, respectively.

Reliance and TCS declined 5.7% each to Rs 2,242 and Rs 779, respectively.

HDFC Bank slipped over 5% to Rs 1,296. ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro shed 4.7% each at Rs 838 and Rs 2,805, respectively.

NTPC, Satyam and Bharti Airtel dropped 4% each to Rs 187, Rs 364 and Rs 778, respectively.

Tata Motors and Infosys declined nearly 4% each to Rs 620 and Rs 1,334, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever was the lone gainer among the Sensex stocks, and closed with a marginal gain at Rs 222. 

Major Gainers			Major Losers
Name	Close	% Chg	Name	Close	% Chg
English Indian Clay	1,449.40	20.0	Action Construction	70.90	79.3
Hisar Metal	33.35	13.6	Artson Enginering	43.90	35.1
Machino Plastics	72.35	10.3	Nahar Capital	96.85	20.0
Auro Laboratories	5.17	10.0	Hester Pharma	125.50	16.9
Maruti Securities	16.50	10.0	Satra Properties	72.00	15.6
(Close = Stock pirce at the end of day in Rs)

Most active counters

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 283 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 277.40 crore), HDFC (Rs 275.50 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 204.50 crore) and REC (Rs 196.30 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 2.60 crore shares followed by debutant V Guard (1.91 crore), REC (1.70 crore), Ispat Industries (1.43 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (1.29 crore).