The BSE index has cracked nearly 2,000 points since the start of this year.
The market has started 2016 on an ominous note, with the BSE benchmark index managing gains on just three trading sessions off the 12 we have seen so far.
The market started the day on a tentative note, and showed some signs of a fight-back in the mid-noon deals. However, any hopes of revival were dashed in the late noon deals owing to heavy unwinding pressure across the board.
The Sensex touched a high of 24,525 in early morning deals, and tumbled to a low of 24,142 – down 383 points in intra-day deals towards the fag end of the trading session.
The BSE index finally ended with a loss of 267 points at 24,188. In the process, the BSE index has now slumped a whopping 7.4 percent (1,930 points) so far this year.
Index heavyweight – Reliance Industries was the chief dragger. The stock plunged 5 percent to Rs 1,020. Asain Paints and Bajaj Auto dropped around 3.5 percent each to Rs 847 and Rs 2,257, respectively.
Cipla, Larsen & Toubro, Coal India, ONGC, SBI, Dr.Reddy’s and HDFC were the other major losers – down 2-3 percent each.
On the positive front, BHEL jumped nearly 4 percent to Rs 142, and Tata Steel rallied 3 percent to Rs 237.
Among sectors – the BSE Energy index tumbled over 4 percent to 2,511. The Cosumer Durables and Telecom indices cracked 2.5 percent each. The Healthcare and Capital Goods indices were also down 2 percent each.
The breadth was extremely bearish – out of 2,867 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,393 declined and 332 advanced today.
