Sensex dips 612 points

Indian markets opened positive and after first two hours of volatile trade came crashing down and the benchmark BSE Sensex closed the day with 612.56 points loss at 17,526.93. The broader 50 share Nifty closed 3.56 per cent lower at 5133.25 amidst talk of a large chunk of selling in the Nifty Futures. Though domestic market sentiment could have been affected by the warning that India would grow slower at the rate of 8.7 in 2007/2008, market participants said it was basket selling in frontline, large cap stocks that triggered the crash. The situation in the primary markets too worsened as Wockhardt Hospitals had received only 20 per cent of subscriptions to its IPO by 5 pm on the closing day, even after cutting its issue price once and extending the subscription date.

The provisional figures from the National Stock Exchange indicated foreign institutional investors were net sellers to the extent of 860 crore while domestic funds net buyers of Rs 230 crore.

With all the Asian markets closed due to Chinese new year and Japan trading with marginal gains amidst marginal presence in dealing rooms, Indian markets had not clear cues to follow.