Black Friday: Sensex ends below 9K level
Agencies
Mumbai, October 24, 2008
Signalling what could be a dark Diwali on Dalal Street, as many as 350 securities on Friday hit their all-time lows as
Sensex crashed by about 1,100 points and dipped below 9,000-mark for the first time in about three years.
Making the things worse, those hitting their record low share prices included big names like Reliance Power, Cipla,
Ranbaxy, Ambuja Cements, Hindalco, Indian Hotels, Jaiprakash Associates, Jet Airways, Suzlon Energy and Idea
Cellular.
Record low
Realty majors DLF Ltd, Unitech, Parsvnath, Sobha Developers, Omaxe and Puravankara also plunged to their all-
time lows.
There were also new listings such as REC, Gammon Infra, Titagarh Wagon, V-Guard, Anu's Lab, KSK Energy, 20
Microns, Birla Cotsyn, OnMobile, IRB Infra, Aishwarya Telecom, Kiri Dyes and 20 Microns in this category.
Other big names plunging to their record low included Central Bank, Power Grid, PFC, Edelweiss Capital, Future
Capital, Biocon and Patni Computer, GMR Infra, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra Forging and Lanco Infra.
Biggest single-day fall
The Sensex on Friday settled 1,070.63 points down at 8,771.70 points -- registering its biggest single-day fall. There
were as many as 2,322 stocks ending in the negative, accounting for close to 90 per cent of all the actively traded
stocks.
Besides, as many as 640 stocks hit their lower circuit filters -- signalling there were no buyers for these stocks.
In the past, on January 21, 2008 and in May 2004 after the UPA government came to power, the Sensex had
crashed by 10 percent much before noon and, therefore, brought trading to a halt by hitting the lower circuit filter.
This time, however, the more than 10 percent fall on Friday happened after noon so the lower circuit filter did not
come into play only when the fall is 15 percent or more.
“As far as I can remember this is the largest fall in percentage terms in recent history,” said Jagannadham
Thunuguntla, head of the capital markets arm of India's fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC
Group.
Nifty too tanks
In percentage terms, the fall of the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE)
was even higher.
The Nifty closed at 2584.00, down 359.15 points or 12.20 percent from its previous close Thursday at 2943.15 points.
The BSE Mid Cap index finished at 3,095.68 points, down 283.04 points or 8.38 percent from its previous close
Thursday at 3,378.72 points.
The BSE Small Cap index closed at 3,661.83, down 303.87 points or 7.66 percent from its previous close Thursday
at 3,965.70 points.