Oil co stocks drag Sensex down 251 points; worst week in 3 years

The BSE benchmark Sensex fell for a fifth session in six on Friday to post its worst weekly loss in three years dragged down by losses in oil and gas, realty and metal shares as Brent crude prices slipped to below $63 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark Sensex fell for a fifth session in six on Friday to post its worst weekly loss in three years dragged down by losses in oil and gas, realty and metal shares as Brent crude prices slipped to below $63 a barrel.

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The 30-share Sensex resumed stable and improved to a high of 27,692.32 on firm Asian cues on the back of rally on Wall Street on Thursday. Later, it met with strong resistance and fell back to settle at 27,350.68 on bearish European opening, a fall of 251.33% or 0.91%. On a weekly basis, the Sensex has plunged by 1,107.42 points, or 3.89% — the worst weekly drop since December 2011.

The broader NSE Nifty ended at 8,224.10, down 68.80 points or 0.8%.

Brent crude oil prices sliding below $63 a barrel has led to global economic growth concerns, which also dragged European stocks lower.

“Markets closed the week with losses of about 3-4% on the benchmarks. There was weakness across sectors as markets are concerned about a global slowdown, as reflected in demand from major oil producing organisations,” said Dipen Shah, head – private client group research, Kotak Securities.

The slump in crude prices could also affect FII flows as sovereign wealth funds-backed by major oil exporters like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Norway among others would have limited capital for exports next year, Neelkanth Mishra, MD (equity research) at Credit Suisse had warned this week.

Among major losers on Friday, Oil and Natural Gas Corp tumbled 3.6%, followed by Essar Oil (3.2%), Reliance Industries (2.5%) and Gail India (4.5%). Real estate stocks like Godrej Properties, Puravankara, Unitech and DLF fell between 3-6%. Among metal stocks, Tata Steel plunged 4% and Hindalco and Jindal Steel and Power were down 1-2%.