Realty, metal lead market meltdown

Realty and power indices closed at new lows, while information technology, metal, auto and consumer durables indices ended the day at their three-year lows after the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed below the 10,000-mark after a gap of two-and-half years. Banking, capital goods and healthcare indices were at their two-year lows at the end of trading today.

The Sensex today decline by 6 per cent, or 606.14 points, to close at 9,975.35 (10,581.49), while the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 5.96 per cent, or 194.95 points, to end the day at 3,074.35 (3,269.30). On June 20, 2006, the Sensex had last closed below the 10,000-mark at 9,822.52.
 

THE GREAT INDIAN NOSEDIVE

Indices

52-Wk high 17-Oct-08 % Fall Realty13,848.492,524.89-81.77 Metal20,494.625,801.71-71.69 Small-Cap14,239.244,167.86-70.73 Consumer Dura7,119.692,085.28-70.71 Capital goods21,020.977,241.36-65.55 Mid-Cap10,245.813,544.84-65.4 Power4,929.341,712.27-65.26 Bankex12,678.985,546.69-56.25 Oil & gas14,268.896,479.56-54.59 Sensex21,206.779,975.35-52.96 S&P CNX Nifty6,287.853,074.35-51.11 IT5,075.132,537.27-50.01 Auto5,865.353,099.60-47.15 Healthcare4,602.153,209.02-30.27 Fmcg2,569.721,858.99-27.66

Except for FMCG and healthcare indices, all other sectoral barometers have declined by over 50 per cent from their all-time highs. The total market capitalisation of BSE has declined by 56 per cent, or Rs 41,40,486 crore, from its all-time high of Rs 74,39,530 crore on January 8, 2008.

Among the major losers, Realty, oil & gas, power, metal, banking and capital goods indices have declined by more than 5 per cent each, while mid-cap and small-cap indices, which had outperformed the Sensex, fell less than 4 per cent each. A total of 376 stocks have frozen at lower circuit filter – two stocks from the frontline A group (NMDC and Jai Corp), 195 from B group, 94 from T group, 38 from S group, 36 from Z group and 11 from TS group.

TCS, Suzlon Energy and Tech Mahindra closed at their all-time lows, while Grasim Industries, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Hindalco closed at more than their two-year lows. Reliance Industries, Bhel, L&T, ONGC, NTPC and Reliance Infrastructure are some other Sensex stocks that closed at their one-year lows.

Bajaj Hindustan, Tata Motors, Jet Airways, Gammon India, Videocon Industries, Bombay Dyeing and Nagarjuna Constructions were available 60 per cent cheaper than their market price 28 months ago. HCC, MTNL, Hindalco, Patni Computer Services, Suzlon Energy, Bharat Forge and Balrampur Chini were discounted between 50 and 60 per cent to their June 20, 2006 market price.