Sensex ends below 13K; Realty, Bank, Metal slip 6-8 per cent

01 July 2008

It was another day of capitulation, bears hogged the limelight in today's session. Sharp cut in realty, banking, metal, power, auto and capital goods stocks have dragged major indices lower. Midcap and small cap stocks crushed very badly. Huge sell off in European markets fueled to negative sentiments. Sensex and Nifty breached their psychological levels of 13000 and 3900, respectively.

Main draggers of both indices were ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Reliance Communication, HDFC, SBI, Tata Steel, DLF and ONGC.

Market breadth was extremely weak due to midcap and small cap stocks, which shattered in today's trade; about 488 shares have advanced while 2416 shares declined. Nearly 228 shares remained unchanged.

The Sensex has broken 13,000 for the first time since April 9, 2007 and Nifty 3,900 for first time since April 13, 2007. Sensex touched an intraday low of 12,904.09, down 557.51 points or 4.14% as against its previous close. It closed at 12,961.68, down 499.92 points or 3.71%.

Nifty lost 143.8 points or 3.56% to end at 3896.75. It has hit a low of 3878.20, down by 162.35 points or 4% from its previous close.

One of the reasons behind free fall in today's session was selling pressure in European shares. UK average home prices declined 6.3%, which was biggest drop since November, 1992. UK mortgage approvals fell to lowest level in 9 years in May. Consumer confidence deteriorated to lowest level in 18 years in May. Major indices like FTSE 100 fell 2.2%, CAC 40 -2.30% and DAX down 1.7%.