Sensex ends below 9k, ICICI Bank leads fall

India’s Sensitive Index dropped for a fifth straight day. ICICI Bank led financial shares lower after saying it had cut its lending growth target by half.

ICICI fell 6.8 per cent and State Bank of India declined 5.1 per cent, their lowest in three weeks. Stocks also dropped as the global economic recession forced companies to reduce employee numbers and output.

The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex, fell 353.81, or 3.8 per cent, to 8,937.20, its lowest since October 27. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the NSE declined 116.40, or 4.2 per cent, to 2,683.15. The BSE 200 Index slid 3.5 percent to 1,063.29. Nifty futures for November delivery fell 4.2 per cent to 2,692.

Shares on the Sensex are valued at 8.9 times trailing earnings, Bloomberg data show. That compares with the MSCI’s Asia-Pacific Index, which trades at 9.8 times earnings. The collapse of the US mortgage market sparked $960 billion in losses and writedowns at global financial companies and cost more than 166,000 jobs.

Citigroup Inc., the fourth-largest US bank by market value, said yesterday it will eliminate 52,000 jobs over the next year, twice the target announced last month, as loan losses surge and the economy shrinks.

Infosys Technologies slid Rs 51.90, or 4.2 per cent, to 1,180.50. Tata Consultancy Services, the nation’s largest software-services provider, shed Rs 35.85, or 6.9 per cent, to 483.15 and Wipro, the third biggest, declined Rs 22.15, or 8.8 per cent, to 230.

ICICI, the nation’s second-largest lender, fell to Rs 360.2, its lowest since October 29. State Bank of India, the biggest, dropped 5.1 per cent to Rs 1,108.45. Housing Development Finance Corporation, the No. 1 mortgage lender, declined Rs 77.45, or 5.2 per cent, to 1,419, its lowest since October 10.

Overseas investors sold a net Rs 564 crore ($114 million) of Indian equities on Nov 14, taking outflows from stocks this year to $12.8 billion, said the nation’s stock market regulator.