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Financial Tsunami
Lehman bankrupt, Merrill taken over

New York, September 15
Global markets plummeted today after investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, rival Merrill Lynch agreed to be taken over and the Federal Reserve threw a lifeline to the battered financial industry.

As a deepening crisis took new, bigger victims, US Federal Reserve said for the first time it would accept stocks in exchange for cash loans and 10 of the world’s top banks agreed to establish a $70 billion emergency fund, with any one of them able to tap up to a third of that. On a black Sunday for Wall Street, frantic attempts to find a rescuer for Lehman failed and troubled insurer American International Group asked the Fed for a lifeline, according to news reports. — Reuters

Oil drops by 7 per cent

London: Oil plunged $7 on Monday as investors fled to safer havens, due to turmoil in the U.S. financial system. Lehman Brothers' filing for bankruptcy protection and Bank of America's agreement to buy Merrill Lynch stirred concerns that mounting global economic problems would slow energy demand further, sending investors out of oil.U.S. crude dropped $7 to $94.18 barrel at 1135 GMT, the lowest level in seven months.

Sensex down 469 points

Mumbai: The key benchmark Sensex today crashed steeply by 469.54 points to end in the red at 13,531.27 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on panic selling pressure in all segments after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, making it the largest casualty of the global credit crisis. Brokers said reports that China's central bank had cut interest rates helped the domestic bourses cut steep intra-day losses.

Indian firms lose over Rs 2,000 cr

Mumbai: Lehman Brothers' move to file for bankruptcy today wiped off more than Rs 2,000 crore from the market valuation of those Indian companies in which the US financial major has made equity investments. Lehman itself recorded a loss of more than Rs 50 crore today on its investments in India, which is nearly 10 per cent of its current holding worth an estimated over Rs 500 crore.