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Sensex plunges 615 points

All the sectoral indices on BSE tumbled with shares from the real-estate pack suffering the most. Everonn Systems India posted strong show on day 1, settling at 242 per cent premium over issue price. Turnover on BSE surged in yesterday's market fall.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex plunged 615.22 points or 3.96 per cent to settle at 14,935.77. This was the third biggest single day point fall in Sensex ever. It opened with a downward gap of 207 points at 15,344.02 and kept on falling to touch a low of 14,910.52 at 15:12 IST on intense selling pressure. As per market talks, a lot of margin calls may have accentuated fall. Margin selling emerges when there are leveraged positions.

The Sensex's biggest single day fall of 826 points had occurred on May 18, 2006. Fears that a possible change in taxation laws on sale of shares would raise tax-liability for FIIs had triggered sharp fall on that day when margin calls had accentuated the decline.

The second biggest fall of 617 points took place on April 2, 2007 following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s surprise hike in interest rates announced after trading hours on March 30, 2007.

The market saw heightened activity in the past few days. Firm global markets had led the Sensex to surge 290 points on Tuesday as the market shrugged off a 50 basis-point hike in CRR by RBI announced on that day. The market also took solace in that RBI had kept interest rates steady. On Monday, Sensex rose 26.34 points after seeing high volatility.

All this came after the black Friday's, July 27, 2007 sharp 542-point plunge caused by setback in global equities. Stocks tumbled in Asia and the US on that day as an avalanche of concerns over the US credit and housing markets spilled into other areas of the financial sphere and prompted investors to reduce risk.

India's second largest cement producer ACC plunged 9.62 per cent to Rs958 on 3.44 lakh shares. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack.

Reliance Energy (down 7.11 per cent to Rs737), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 5.33 per cent to Rs369.10) and Mahindra & Mahindra (down 4.83 per cent to Rs693.90) were the other major losers from the Sensex pack.

India's largest truck maker Tata Morors slipped 4.65 per cent to Rs666.80 after it reported a 22.2 per cent rise in net profit to Rs466.76 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006. Sales moved up 4.7 per cent to Rs6056.82 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006.

Bajaj Auto, the country's second biggest two-wheeler manufacturer, shed 2.76 per cent to Rs2295 after its vehicle sales fell 7 per cent to 1,85,890 units in July 2007 over July 2006.

Reliance Industries, the country's largest private sector enterprise, lost 5.25 per cent to Rs1793 on 15.84 lakh shares. As per reports, RIL is among the 11 winners for oil and gas exploration blocks announced by the Australian government. RIL won the bid for an exploration licence in part of the Bonaparte Basin, off northern Australia. It proposes to spend A$29.8 million over the next six years. This includes the cost of drilling one well. Australia awards oil and gas exploration permits depending on the amount of work bidders pledge to carry out.

India's largest aluminium maker Hindalco Industries tumbled 6.41 per cent to Rs159.20 after said its net profit in the first quarter remained flat at Rs602.9 crore due to a sharp fall in alumina prices and a customs duty cut that made imported products cheaper. Hindalco's revenue rose 9 per cent to Rs4,677.9 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006. Hindalco is expected to invest Rs30000 crore over the next five years in various greenfield and brownfield expansion projects, including the Utkal Alumina project in Orissa.

India's top small-car maker Maruti Udyog lost 2.13 per cent to Rs 825. The company yesterday reported an 18 per cent rise in sales in domestic market to 52,839 units in July 2007 over July 2006. It exported 5,070 units, up from 1,755 units in July 2006.

FMCG and pharma shares, considered as defensive sectors in times of steep market correction, though they declined, the fall in their prices was relatively low. Dr Reddy's (down 1.85 per cent to Rs621.80), ITC (down 2.17 per cent to Rs167), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.47 per cent to Rs201), and Cipla (down 3 per cent to Rs184) edged lower.