Sensex At 10-Month Low

A 200-point Nasdaq fall reverberated across Asia yesterday and pulled the 30-scrip Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index down 207 points, or 4.64 per cent, to a 10-month low of 4,251.36.

All key Asian markets ended lower. But the most affected were the sensex and the Nikkei of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which declined by 819.01 points, or 4.64 per cent, at 16,882.46.

The S&P CNX Nifty shed more than 51.05 points, or 3.75 per cent, to close at 1,312.10.

In fact, the sensex has now shed almost 450 points since last Friday with foreign institutional investors leading the selloff.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, foreign institutional investors emerged net sellers to the extent of Rs 165 crore on Wednesday. During the past three days, FIIs have emerged net sellers to the extent of Rs 356.80 crore.

The Business Standard ICE index plummeted 17.14 points, or 8.45 per cent, on consistent selling pressure to close at 185.78. In terms of market capitalisation, the index saw an erosion of Rs 23,763 crore in a single day.

Zee Telefilms closed at Rs 546_down almost 12 per cent_for the second consecutive day, while Infosys Technologies staged a late afternoon rally to close 6.62 per cent down at Rs 7,190 after having touched an intra-day low of Rs 6,925, a fall of 9.13 per cent.

Satyam Computers ended the day with a more than 11.15 per cent loss at Rs 2,815 and HCL Infosystems closed below the 8 per cent filter at Rs 370.70.

Other ICE majors like Wipro, Pentamedia Graphics, NIIT and DSQ Software closed the day with losses between 6 and 10 per cent.

Momentum players and fund managers opined that FIIs were heavy sellers across major ICE stocks.

However, there was some confusion over the FII investment figure for Monday.

While the regulator said on Tuesday that the net FII sales were Rs 444.30 crore, it was informed by a custodian on Wednesday that the figure was inaccurate. It was revised on Thursday, showing a net sales figure of Rs 188.90 crore.

Sebi has sought an explanation from the custodian and come out with a formal statement on the issue.

"The BSE sensex has closed below the 4,470 level for two consecutive days. If it breaks below the 4,073 level, then one could expect a slide up to 3,840 or 3,570 levels in a matter of hours, technical analyst Anirudh Sethi said.

"The last day of the settlement at the BSE, unexecuted sales orders and weak sentiments prevailing at the global stock markets may compel the Indian markets to open on a weak note tomorrow."

Hanu Bhatia, vice-president, institutional dealing at Parag Parikh Securities felt that if on Friday the Sensex closes below the technical barrier of 4,248 points, then the Sensex could slide to levels below 3,800.