Shares of a fourth of top 500 companies hit 52-week lows

One of four stocks from the BSE-500 index plunged to 52-week lows on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday amid the global sell-off in equity markets.

Heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Infosys, Hindalco, BHEL, Cairn India and Sterlite Industries were among 135 companies of the BSE-500 index which touched one-year lows, while 11 stocks from the S&P CNX Nifty traded at 52-week lows. Among the sectoral indices, the oil and gas index of BSE along with those of metal, power, realty and capital goods hit one-year lows, while IT and auto indices hovered around their 52-week lows.

N Sethuram, chief investment officer of Daiwa Mutual Fund, said, “There is uncertainty across the globe. We believe the markets may further slide 7-8 per cent as talks of double-dip recession are resurfacing.” The Sensex hit a nearly 13-month low at 16,991 intra-day. It lost 1,565 points or 8.3 per cent in the past nine trading sessions to close at 17,306 on Friday.

Market experts see the sharp correction in equity markets as a better opportunity to build up a long-term investment portfolio. Navneet Munot, CIO, SBI Mutual Fund, said: “The current levels offer a good opportunity for investors to enter the equity markets from the long-term perspective.”
 

S&P CNX NIFTY STOCKS AT 52-WEEK LOWS
Company	5-Aug	52-wk high	% chg
JP Associates	60.75	140.80	-56.85
SAIL	114.65	234.10	-51.03
Reliance Power	103.35	191.00	-45.89
BHEL	1711.35	2695.00	-36.50
Hindalco	162.95	251.90	-35.31
Sesa Goa	248.25	383.65	-35.29
Reliance Ind	792.00	1187.00	-33.28
Jindal Steel	540.15	755.25	-28.48
Sterlite Ind	141.45	195.90	-27.79
Infosys	2591.20	3493.95	-25.84
Cairn India	287.05	372.00	-22.84
Price in Rs

Investors saw market value erosion of Rs 1,33,126 crore in a single day and Rs 4,86,391 crore since the last RBI policy day. The total market capitalisation of actively traded stocks on the exchanges declined to Rs 63,49,524 crore.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pulled out equity shares worth Rs 1,789 crore in on Friday's trade. This amounts to Rs 3,618 crore in the last nine trading sessions since the RBI's monetary policy in July.

Of the BSE-500 index, 20 stocks declined more than 20 per cent each, while 170 stocks fell in the range of 10-20 per cent during the period. BL Kashyap & Sons, Jai Corp, SKS Microfinance, KS Oils, IVRCL and OnMobile Global fell by more than 25 per cent each.