Nifty ends at 2-year low; HDFC Bank, Bharti crash 4%

23 Nov 2011

The benchmark Nifty closed at near 2-year lows today, falling over 2% on heavy volumes. However, the close could have been much worse if not for some short covering in the dying moments of trade.   

The sell-off in heavyweights indicated foreign investors cutting their exposure to Indian equities. Escalating Eurozone fears, an all-time low rupee coupled with slowdown woes led to capitulation in the market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex crashed as much as 587 points to hit an intra-day low of 15,478.69, before closing down 365.45 points at 15,699.97. Meanwhile, the 50-share NSE Nifty touched a low of 4,640.95 during the day, before ending down 105.90 points at 4,706.45 - lowest closing since the November 3, 2009.

European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britiain's FTSE lost over 0.7%. Even the Dow Jones futures slipped 128 points.

Back home, the total traded turnover was nearly Rs 2.54 lakh crore as against Rs 1.99 lakh crore on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee, which tried to recover in early trade, appreciating to 51.88 to the dollar, stayed below the 52-mark.