Terror Thursday.. Sensex lose 454 points, Nifty lose 137 points

Bears were charged up all through the day and dragged the Indian markets to end today's session deep in red. A massive sell-off was seen across the board as investors pressed the panic button citing reasons like political instability and series of scams. Fears of foreign fund withdrawals in the absence of any positive trigger also led the Indian markets fall drastically.

The Sensex shed more than 500 points during the day. The Nifty closed below 5800 - another psychologically important level, which even tested 5750 level in an intraday trade. Several stocks locked at lower circuits, which pushed the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices down by 4.48% & 5.92%, respectively.

Financial, metal, realty, telecom, oil & gas and auto companies' shares took heavy beating on the exchanges followed by Midcaps and Smallcaps as well. Broader indices saw big crack today, in fact more than benchmarks. In Midcap space, StanChart IDR, Amara Raja Batteries, Kirloskar Brothers, IRB Infrastructure and Den Networks gained between 0.5-2.5% while Glodyne Technoserve Developers, Sunteck Realty, Amtek Auto, Hindustan Oil Exploration, KS Oils and Gitanjali Gems crashed in the range of 12.5-20%.

The Sensex began the session 50 points higher at 19746 and soon hit the day's high of 19771 in initial trade. The index slipped from the day’s high and traded in the negative zone all through the morning session. The Sensex continued its southbound journey in the afternoon session owing to heavy selling across the board. In late trade, the Sensex hit the day’s low of 19161 as huge sell-off was witnessed especially in consumer durables and realty stocks.

At finishing line, the Sensex closed at 19242, down by 454 points and the Nifty shut 137 points lower, at 5767.

Bond & Rupee update: India’s 10-year bonds dropped for a second day before the central bank buys back Rs120 billion ($2.7 billion) of securities to ease a cash crunch in the banking system.

Rally continues; Sensex up 329 points, Nifty up 98 points.

Bulls continued its strong run for the third straight day as the Indian markets witnessed a stellar rally in today’s trade led by upbeat economic data across the globe. World markets rose after China posted better-than-expected factory production data in November - rising to a seven-month high at 55.2, factory production in India also expanded in November at its fastest pace in six months, while euro zone manufacturing grew at its quickest rate in four months. Strong auto sales numbers by top Indian auto firms also supported the rally. The broad markets outperformed the key benchmark indices in today’s trade. The Nifty regained its psychological levels of 5900. The buying was seen in all sectors.

The BSE Midcap rose by 2.5% and BSE Smallcap surged by 3%. Among frontliners, Suzlon Energy, Reliance Capital, Cipla, Tata Steel, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindalco Industries, Reliance Communications and State Bank of India were the major gainers.

The Sensex started the day mere nine points higher at 19530 tracking unsupportive Asian markets. The index hit the day’s low of 19525 in its initial trade. The Sensex gathered momentum and traded in the positive zone all through the morning session. The Sensex extended gains in the afternoon trade taking lead from the positive European markets. The Sensex hit the day’s high of 19887 in the late trade as strong buying was witnessed in metal, realty stocks and also in index heavyweights.

At the finishing line, the Sensex closed at 19850, higher by 329 points. The Nifty shut at 5961, up by 98 points.

Housing scam: CBI issues notices to 21 cos

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued notices to 21 companies, which allegedly received loans from public sector banks and financial institutions.
The move comes a day after the agency arrested the CEO of LIC Housing Finance and seven others in the multi-crore housing scam and trading of insider information on companies.
The central agency has asked these companies to provide all documents relating to the case. They been asked to explain the benefits they received and favours that were extended to the arrested officials by them.

The agency claims the companies that allegedly benefited from the scam include Mantri Realty, Sigrun, Entertainment World, Indore City Treasure, Lavasa, Ashapura Minechem, BGR Energy, OPG Group, Krishna Group, Suzlon, Emaar-MGF, MBDB, Gold Souk Project and Jaypee Group.
In the FIR registered by CBI in Mumbai, the agency claimed that Naresh Chopra, LIC's secretary (investment), leaked information about companies like Adani group, J P Hydro, JSW Power, Religare, DB Realty, Pantaloons, Adalite and MTech, that allegedly benefited from the scam.
At 9.51 am, LIC Housing Finance was trading at Rs1001, down by 5.40%, with a volume of 10.05 lakh shares on the BSE.
DB Realty was trading at Rs211.75, down by 9.99%, with a volume of 0.21 lakh shares on the BSE.

Fake housing loan scam hit markets in late trade

The domestic market witnessed a sharp fall today with huge selling coming in in the last half an hour of trade as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids in metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai in context of the multi crore fake housing loans scandal. Fears of a likely financial scam triggered a huge sell-off in banking as well as realty companies' shares, leading the representative sectoral indices on the BSE to crash by around 3% each. There were reports that the CBI (economic offences wing) raided LIC Housing Finance - promoted by LIC (LIC has 36% stake in the company) - on November 23. The CBI is investigating a case of unjustified issuance of loan to one of the builders and misappropriation of funds at LIC Housing.

Capital goods, technology and cement companies' shares along with State Bank of India, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), HDFC Bank, SAIL and Reliance Communications underwent selling pressure. In the mid-cap space, TVS Motors, Gujarat Flourochem, Akzo Nobel, Apollo Tyres and Great Offshore gained in the range of 4-8% while Money Matters plunged 19% (on talks of a raid by CBI officials).

The Sensex began the session in the morning 43 points higher at 19735. The index held on to its gains through out the morning session. It hit the day's high of 19836 in the morning session. The 30 share bellwether Sensex  continued to trade in the green in the afternoon session holding on its morning gains. But in the last hour of trade it slipped drastically to hit the day's low of 19376 as banking and realty stocks fell sharply on news of the fake housing loan scam. 

At the finishing, the Sensex shut at 19460, lower by 232 points. The Nifty ended at 5866, down by 68 points.

Korean war hit mkts across the globe

Nov 23 2010 1:45PM


North Korea has bombarded a South Korean island with artillery shells, injuring civilians and soldiers and setting more than 60 properties ablaze. The attack, which comes days after it emerged that North Korea was pressing ahead with its illegal nuclear programme, marks a serious further escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsular.
Markets freefall
The impact of tensions between North and South Korea was felt internationally, with US 10-year Treasury futures rising and the Japanese yen falling.
The major Asian markets too closed on a weak note. Hang Seng fell more than 600 points to close at 22888, while Shanghai Composite and Straits Times fell more than 50 points.
European markets also felt the heat with The FTSE down by more than 50 points at 5680, CAC is trading down by 25 points at 3786, DAX is down more than 20 points at 6822. 
Indian markets too witnessed a sharp-fall as North Korea fired dozens artillery shells on South Korean island. At 1.15 pm, the Sensex fell more than 500 points to 19363 at whereas Nifty touched 5825.