Sensex Slumps 128pts To 3419, Down 375pts Since Budget

Across the board selling by overseas investors resulted in major stock indices plumetting yesterday. In the largest single-day fall since the budget was announced on Monday, the 30-scrip BSE sensex crashed 128.32 points to close at 3,419 .

From the pre-budget close of 3,794 on Monday, the sensex has now shed almost 10 per cent or 375 points during the week. While most of the frontline stocks were hammered in the past three days, the worst hit sector yesterday was software. Players attribute this to profit booking by FIIs.

The market slide also spread to the broader market which resulted in the Midcap Index shedding 101.90 points yesterday. The 100-share BSE index crashed 63.26 points, a drop of 4.17 per cent while the BSE-200 index dropped 4.83 per cent to close at 344.78 points.

The domestic institutions continued to support the market . "There is a lot of value in key stocks following this fall. The market has over-reacted and it is difficult to establish logic in the way panic has been created.

FIIs are taking advantage of the arbitrage opportunities between the local and GDR markets," said G P Gupta, chairman, UTI .