Sensex plunges to two-month low amidst fears of spreading Greek crisis

Fears of another global credit crunch sparked by the continuing Greek crisis hit the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday with the benchmark index, Sensex, plunging to a two-month low after shedding 218.42 points, or 1.3 per cent finally closing at 16,769.11 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange was down 1.4 per cent to end the day at 5,018.05 points.

The fall traced in a lower key the track of the Dow Jones Industrial Average which on Thursday plumbed almost 1,000 points in the steepest intraday fall since 1987, briefly slipping below the 10,000-point mark but recovering later to close with a 3.46 per cent loss for the day at 10,520 points.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Labour said 290,000 payroll jobs had been added in April, the fastest growth in four years.

Though the Thursday downslide was later attributed partly to a technical glitch, according to market experts it served to underline the lack of confidence among investors, who are increasingly turning away from risky assets such as equities in Greece and other weak European Union economies.

According to analysts Indian equities would be impacted in the midst of the shaky overall global environment but they maintain Indian equities are sound.