Manic Monday; Sensex plunges 316 points on US blues

The mood on the Dalal Street soured further after the US lost its top-notch credit rating due to mounting debts. The Sensex down 316 points and the Nifty down 93 points

Major headlines

L&T Q1 net profit up 12%

M&M net profit rises 8% in Q1

Tata Chemicals Q1 net profit down 27%



Indian indices

Again a sharp fall in the Indian markets was followed by a downgrade in the long-term US sovereign rating by rating agency Standard & Poor's from AAA to AA+ with a negative outlook. The US lost its 'AAA' credit rating for the first time in history and this raised concerns of continuing turmoil in global financial markets. The development further added to the worries of global markets, already grappling with the debt crisis in Europe.

However, a recovery was seen taking place in late morning trade and by mid-day, with the markets recovering more than half of the losses. The markets closed an extreme volatile day on a lower note, ext ending fall for the fifth straight session.

Sensex movements: The Sensex resumed the first day of the week 398 points lower at 16908 and slipped further to hit the day’s low of 16759 in early trade. After that the index began to trim losses as the session progressed. In early afternoon, the index recovered most of its losses and touched the day’s high of 17248. The Sensex fell 316 points to close at 16990 and the Nifty settled 93 lower at 5119.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood extremely weak, with 2199 shares (75%) losing, 661 shares (22%) rising and 82 shares (3%) traded unchanged.

Viewing volumes

Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy was traded the most, with over 0.66 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that an integrated infrastructure development company - Lanco Infratech (0.43 crore shares), India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.35 crore shares), a unit of infrastructure major GVK Group - GVK Power & Infrastructure (0.32 crore shares) and a Jaypee Group firm - Jaiprakash Associates (0.28 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectoral indices closed the session on a negative note. BSE Realty was the biggest loser, down by 4.46%. Following that BSE Information Technology (IT) down by 4.33%, BSE TECk fell by 3.60% and BSE Metal slipped by 3.50%. Rest fell between 0.33-1.62%.

In 'A' group stocks, Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals was the biggest gainer surging by 5.62%, Hero Motocorp rose by 4.03% and GVK Power & Infrastructure went up by 2.61%. On the flip side, Reliance Capital was the major loser declining by 7.48%, DLF slid by 6.85% and Hindalco Industries dropped by 6.85%.

Global indices

The European stock markets were lower on Monday, as investors weighed up reported purchases of Italian and Spanish bonds by the European Central Bank against Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US credit rating.

The Asian markets closed on a weak note on Monday as S&P downgrade spurs growth worries.

The US stock index futures tracked a sharp drop in global equity market and signal negative opening on the Wall Street on Monday.