E-Paper
Sensex tumbles by 186 pts on inflation concerns
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by over 186 points on heavy selling after a steep hike in fuel prices raised inflationary concerns amid weakening global trend.
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by over 186 points on heavy selling after a steep hike in fuel prices raised inflationary concerns amid weakening global trend.
The 30-share index closed lower by 186.25 points at 18,345.03 points as oil companies hiked petrol prices by Rs five per litre, the most since June 2008.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 45.75 points to close at 5,499 points as realty, banks, metal and auto stocks suffered major losses.
A weakening trend in the Asian region and lower opening in Europe further fuelled the down-trend.
Brokers said already under pressure markets received another blow following a petrol price hike and fears of hike in diesel and cooking gas prices in ministerial meeting next week.
Also, a less-than-expected fall in inflation for the month of April fanned concern of more rise in interest rates, they said. Inflation was at 8.66 % in April against 9.04 % in March, official data released today said.
Mahindra and Mahindra fell by 2.71 % to Rs 673. 15, Bajaj Auto by 2.72 % to Rs 1,300.85 and Tata Motors by 0.23 % to Rs 1,208.15 as Indian Oil Corp raised the price of gasoline by 8.5 %.
The banking sector index fell by 1.18 % to 12,441.
84 as State Bank of India dropped by 1.20 % to Rs 2,617.30 and ICICI Bank by 1.70 % to Rs 1,057.45.
The realty sector index suffered the most by losing 1.47 % to 2,145.61 as DLF Ltd plunged 2.58 % to Rs 226.20, Jaiprakash Associates by 3.20 % to Rs 84.75 and Reliance Infrastructure by 2.10 % to Rs 598.10.
The two most-heaviest on the Sensex with their 23 % weightage, Reliance Industries and Infosys declined. RIL fell by 0.
46 % to Rs 944.30 and Infosys by 1.05 % to Rs 2,849.75.
As the selling pressure spread over a broader front, midcap sector index lost 0.77 % to 6,849.59 and smallcap index by 0.74 % to 8,306.55.
