Mumbai, October 10
The Sensex continued its downward trajectory as global equities took a beating defying attempts by governments and central banks to restore confidence in financial institutions around the world.
The Sensex fell 800 points, or 7 per cent, to close at 10,527, while in the broader markets the Nifty slumped 233 points to end at 3,279.
After falling more than 1,000 points during intra-day trade, the markets recovered sharply later following improved inflation numbers and measures by the RBI to improve liquidity. But the mid-session rally soon ran out of steam amidst selling across the board and the markets slumped.
Among the worst to take a hit were stocks in the realty sector. Among the major realty stocks, Mahindra Lifespace, HDIL and Orbit Corp were the major losers closing more than 15 per cent lower.
The BSE realty index was down 11 per cent while other sectoral indices like banking, metals, capital goods, and consumer durables fell between 7.8 per cent and 10.1 per cent.
Among the Sensex stocks, Reliance Communications was the biggest loser falling more than 21 per cent amidst rumours that the company was hugely over-leveraged in the global financial markets. Other stocks like Tata Steel, JP Associates, Reliance Infrastructure and ICICI Bank also fell between 15 per cent to 19.7 per cent amidst chatter that their books were deep in debt. Despite its better-than-expected results, Infosys could not buck the trend and fell more than 2 per cent.
Only Ranbaxy and SBI ended in positive territory gaining 4 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.
Earlier in the day, the RBI said it was cutting cash reserve ratio by 150 bps to ease the liquidity
crisis.
