The 30-share BSE Sensex ended almost 246 lower at 20,926 levels down 1.16% from its previous close while the broader 50-share Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange scrapped 71 points to close at 6,237 levels.
Tata Motors, ONGC, Coal India ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto were the top losers while Tata Power, HDFC, Gail India and NTPC were the top heavyweight gainers today.
Profit-booking in IT and index-heavyweights dragged markets.
In US, automatic spending cuts were triggered on Friday as lawmakers failed to agree on a resolution to prevent them, while China's manufacturing growth cooled in February to a four-month low.
A day after Standard & Poor's (S&P) came out with its report on how India could be the first among Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC nations) to lose its investment-grade rating, markets shrugged off the concern, ending in the green.
With the downgrade there is a danger that investors who hold these financial securities may sell out. Of course, the level of selling will depend on the way the investors react to this downgrade.
All companies stock price surged on the news that UB Group has reached a deal with the world's largest spirit maker Diageo for a stake sale.
The brokerage expects single-digit returns from the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex with year-end target of 18,000. The Sensex has fallen almost 8 per cent in the last seven trading sessions because of global liquidity tightening.
Recent rally in Indian shares may not last long.
Foreign institutional investors have been net investors to the tune of Rs 55,000 crore (Rs 550 billion) in equity markets this year so far. In contrast, domestic institutional investors have been net sellers over the past three months.
Until early last year, it looked like India's stock market would continue its gravity-defying rise forever.
On the last day of Satyam's stint in India's benchmark indices - the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex and the National Stock Exchange S&P CNX Nifty - its shares turned out to be a punter's delight.
In a key change in its stance, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said it is keeping its options open on banning short sales, which a section of brokers believes are responsible for the collapsing stock market. The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex fell below 10,000 Friday, the first time since July 2006.
In a move to allow US investors to directly participate in India's equity markets, Chicago-based US Futures Exchange (USFE) will exclusively license the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex for US dollar-denominated futures trading beginning February 22 next year. At present, US investors can buy only a handful of Indian stocks listed on the New York and Nasdaq exchanges through an American Depository Receipt (ADR) authorisation.
There is an unprecedented sense of jubilation among investors, as they expect a big thrust on the reforms front.
Equity funds' exceptional performance was obviously due to the stock market rally that was led by small and mid-cap stocks. Realty, banks and consumer goods companies emerged as top gainers.
Last Friday's tumble on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones index falling nearly 400 points, is sure to have its repercussions on the already shaky Indian market. With both the benchmark indices, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty having lost 5 per cent apiece last week, investors are already skittish.
Most investors have become wary of placing fresh bets after the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex lost more than 3924.19 points, or 19 per cent, this year. The Sensex meltdown has also impacted the number of investments in the growth mode because earnings growth in several sectors has been affected indicating a cooling off effect on the economy.
The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty also shuttled between 4,524.00 and 4,436.60, before winding up at 4,469.10, showing a net loss of 33.15 points. The information technology sector, which led the upsurge in Tuesday's trading, suffered the most, losing 1.74 per cent to 3,694.03, as segment major Infosys and Tata Consultancy dropped on profit booking.
Three sectoral indices -- Realty Index, Oil and Gas Index, and Bankex -- led the sharp fall in stock prices in the last five days, which saw the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex suffer its sharpest ever continuous drop. The three indices fell nearly 9 per cent each between January 14 and January 18, 2008. Power, metals, IT, capital goods and consumer goods indices also declined by 5-8 per cent during the week.
The number of stocks trading below their paid-up values is increasing rapidly after the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex corrected 44 per cent from its all-time high.
Sixty out of 154 mutual funds have underperformed their benchmarks by over 30 per cent
The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex opened 30 points higher at 15,993, and soon slipped into a negative zone in early trades after the government announced the hike in fuel prices.
It was a manic Monday for the Indian markets with the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex slipping to its second biggest points' fall and the lowest since August in line with an Asia-wide slide after the Federal Reserve cut its discount interest rate at an emergency meeting and JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy sub-prime hit Bear Stearns for less than a tenth of its value last week.
The markets opened strong on the back of buying in capital goods, bank and IT stocks
The Sensex, which saw a sharp fall of nearly 800 points on the first two days of the week, rebounded with a 180-point gain on Wednesday, while the index continued its northward run the next day too, surging by 300 points.
'With such brilliant people like Dr Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram around, our \n\neconomic agenda will be the best,' says Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who is in charge of drafting the \n\nnew government's Common Minimum Programme.
The financial market gave a thumbs up to Reserve Bank of India's annual credit policy, which pushed up the benchmark Sensex higher by over 225 points and lifted the Rupee to over a nine-year high.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India continued to be on high alert and has asked the stock exchanges to "remain extraordinarily watchful of any unusual movements" following the intense volatility in the capital market.
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