Benchmark indices tumble to one-week low

Selling intensified in mid-afternoon trade as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both hit one-week low. At 14:16 IST, the Sensex was down 422.90 points or 1.61% at 25,770.08. The Nifty was down 134.25 points or 1.68% at 7,842.85. The Sensex fell below the psychological 26,000 mark. The Nifty was currently trading below the psychological 8,000 mark. Earlier, the Nifty pierced the psychological 8,000 after recording modest gains in early trade.

The Sensex fell 483.57 points at the day's low of 25,709.41 in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty fell 156.20 points at the day's low of 7,820.90 in mid-afternoon trade. A setback for European stocks and fall in US index futures weighed on Indian stocks. Car makers led a sharp slide in European stocks after French Finance Minister Michel Sapin reportedly called for a probe of the auto sector in Europe in the wake of German auto maker Volkswagen AG admitting to rig emission tests in the US. South Korea has decided to launch a probe into Volkswagen's diesel cars while the US government has decided to expand its pollution-skirting investigation to other car makers, according to news reports. Late last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board (EPA and CARB) revealed their findings that while testing diesel cars of the Volkswagen Group they have detected manipulations that violate American environmental standards. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow Jones Industrial Average could slide 228 points at the opening bell today, 22 September 2015.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,562 shares fell and 982 shares rose. A total of 109 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.16%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.75%. The decline in both these indices was lower than Sensex's decline in percentage terms.

Most FMCG stocks declined. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (down 1.88%), Britannia Industries (down 1.75%), Marico (down 1.14%), Dabur India (down 0.59%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.56%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (down 0.49%), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.4%) and Tata Global Beverages (down 0.36%), edged lower. Bajaj Corp (up 0.14%), Colgate Palmolive (India) (up 0.47%), Nestle India (up 0.52%) and Jyothy Laboratories (up 1.40%), edged higher.

Most capital goods shares edged lower. Jindal Saw (down 2.57%), Larsen & Toubro (down 2.24%), Suzlon Energy (down 1.84%), Siemens (down 1.65%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 1.52%), Punj Lloyd (down 1.04%), Lakshmi Machine Works (down 0.88%), Crompton Greaves (down 0.87%), Praj Industries (down 0.73%), Alstom T&D India (down 0.47%), AIA Engineering (down 0.31%), Havells India (down 0.16%) and Bharat Electronics (down 0.12%), edged lower. ABB India (up 0.06%), Thermax (up 0.37%), ALSTOM India (up 0.57%), SKF India (up 1.63%) and BEML (up 1.80%), edged higher.

Amtek Auto lost 12.14% to Rs 45.60 on reports that the company has missed payments on the Rs 800 crore worth of bonds that matured on 20 September 2015. The company had issued bonds with a coupon rate of 10.25% and maturity of five years in 2010.

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