Wall St ends in red; Indian ADRs drop

US stocks tumbled in choppy trade to 12-year lows amid worries over a deepening recession and more unsettling news in the financial sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 80.05 points (1.21 per cent) to 6,546.89 at the market close.

The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite slid 24.96 points (1.93 per cent) to 1,268.89 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 shed 6.86 points (1.00 per cent) at 676.52, according to preliminary closing figures.

"The stock market is reflecting ongoing concerns regarding the recession as seen in the growing number of job losses, the potential impact of the projected federal budget deficit, more pressure in the credit markets, and the steady parade of companies delivering lower profits, dividend cuts and eliminating projections regarding first quarter and 2009 revenue and earnings," said Fred Dickson at DA Davidson.

"The biggest problem remains turmoil in the financial system even after massive multi-trillion dollar cash injections by the Fed (Federal Reserve) and global banking authorities," he said.

Indian ADRs, too, ended with significant losses. MTNL, Tata Motors and Tata Communications plunged over 6% each to $2.25, $3.21 and $15.18, respectively. Patni Computers, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Dr.Reddy's dropped around 4% each. Satyam, however, soared 13% to $1.71.