Thaindian News

Mumbai, March 18 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities markets slumped nearly one-and-a-half percent Friday as political turmoil dampened investor sentiment, already shaken by interest rate hikes and the Japan crisis.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the positive at 18,251.18 points, slipped below psychological resistance level of 18,000 points within an hour of trading on deepening political uncertainties.

The benchmark Sensex ended the day at 17,878.81 points, down 1.49 percent or 271.06 points from the previous close at 18,149.87 points. The index touched a high of 18,259.61 points and low of 17,849.53 points in the intraday.

Selling pressure intensified in the afternoon session on deepening political crisis after the opposition demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following leaks of US diplomatic cables alleging that MPs were bribed to win a parliamentary trust vote in 2008.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P; CNX Nifty fell 1.34 percent or 72.95 points to close at 5,373.70 points.

There was heavy selling pressure in oil and gas stocks. Reliance Industries fell nearly four percent after a report that its output from gas field in the KG-D6 basin were projected to remain 13 percent lower.

The BSE oil and gas index tumbled nearly three percent. All the broader markets as well as sectoral indices closed in the red.

On the broader market, the BSE midcap fell 0.43 percent at 6,509.68 points and the BSE smallcap closed 0.78 percent down at 7,797.80 points.

Interest rate sensitive auto and banking stocks slumped for the second day after the central bank hiked key policy rates by 25 basis points to curb inflation.

Mahindra and Mahindra slumped 3.31 percent at Rs.632.95. Reliance Infra, down 3.87 percent at Rs.627.55; HDFC, down 2.57 percent at Rs.620.95; Hero Honda, down 2.35 percent at Rs.1,474.15 and Tata Motors, down 2.17 percent at Rs.1,117.95 were among the top Sensex losers.

Only two out of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the green: Tata Steel, up 0.26 percent at Rs.596.30 and Tata Power, up 0.17 percent at Rs.1,232.

Most global markets were in the positive. Among Asian markets, the Japanese Nikkei average rebounded 2.72 percent to close at 9,206.75 points. Japanese witnessed extremely volatile trading this week amid concerns of a nuclear meltdown following last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.33 percent at 2,906.89 points and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.07 percent up at 22,300.20 points.

European markets were also in the green. Around mid-day, the French CAC 40 was trading 0.70 percent higher, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.32 percent and the German DAX was ruling 0.54 percent higher.