Thaindian News

Mumbai, May 8 (IANS) The interest rate hike effected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday spooked traders at Indian equities markets, who sold by the droves in interest rate sensitive stocks across the market breadth, sending benchmark indices tumbling.

Shares of front-liners like Bharti Airtel too were pounded as it reported not-so-encouraging quarterly results.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed the week at 617.15 points, 3.23 percent lower at 18,518.81 points.

At the National Stock Exchange, the 50-scrip S&P; CNX Nifty slipped by 198.05 points or 3.44 percent to close at 5,551.45 points.

The RBI had May 3 hiked the repo and reverse repo rate by 50 basis points in a bid to tame inflation and said growth could moderate to about 8 percent for the current fiscal.

Broader markets too closed among losses, with the BSE midcap index losing 3.25 percent and the BSE smallcap index shedding 4.28 percent.

On a weekly basis, there were only two gainers on the 30-scrip Sensex: Hero Honda, up 5 percent at Rs.1,764.65, and BHEL, up 2.6 percent at Rs.2,057.70.

Major Sensex losers were: Reliance Communications, down 10.2 percent at Rs.89.80; ACC, down 10.1 percent at Rs.988.65; Jaiprakash Associates, down 9.5 percent at Rs.86.50, and Bharti Airtel, down 9 percent at Rs.350.75.

According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth $620.32 million during the week.

Global markets mostly ended the week in losses as commodity shares were battered over falling prices of commodities and concerns heightened over sovereign debt crisis in some Euro zone economies after reports emerged that Greece was mulling a pull out from the European Union.

Also chances of another round of monetary tightening by the Chinese central bank to contain inflation had a negative effect on global market sentiments.

Among the Asian markets, the Japanese Nikkei average ended the week on a flat note at 9,859.2 points, up 0.1 percent, while the Shanghai composite index of the Chinese stock exchanges fell 1.64 percent at 2,863.89 points.

The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong stock exchange closed 2.37 percent lower at 23,159.14 points.

Among the European markets, the German DAX closed 0.3 percent lower at 7,492.25 points while the French CAC 40 ended 1.19 percent lower at 4,058.01 points. Britain’s FTSE, in too closed in the red at 5,976.77 points.

Wall Street too closed the week in losses with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending 1.34 percent lower at 12,638.74 points, while the S&P; 500 moved down 1.72 percent at 1,340.2 points.

The technology heavy Nasdaq too fel 1.6 percent at 2,827.56 points.