565 pts! 2nd largest Sensex fall

The market closed with the second-largest fall of 565 points on Monday in the worst-ever volatility, even as the BSE authorities suspended the trading twice during the first half of the session in a bid to mitigate the damage.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index which had crumbled by about 800 points -- the largest-ever intra-day fall -- to an intra-day low of 4227, later staged a smart recovery on the back of heavy purchases by financial institutions before settling at 4505 -- still showing a fall of 564 points.

This, however, was the second-largest fall for the BSE Sensex. On April 28, 1992, the Sensex fell by a record 570.42 points (12.77 per cent) to close at 3,869.90 due to the exposure of securities scam and SEBI asking stockbrokers trade data registration.

The S&P CNX Nifty too dropped 194 points or 12.46 per cent to close at 1388.75.

The Sensex, which commenced 49 points lower at 5,021, lost 356 points to 4,714 when the first halt was implemented at 1015 am. After an hour's delay, the trading commenced but the index, within a span of three minutes, tanked further to 4,227, forcing the operators to go for a second interruption.

The trading re-commenced in early noon deals and the index soon pared its losses following Manmohan Singh's [ Images ] assurance that the government would implement a market-friendly policy.

• Bloodbath on Dalal Street: Complete Coverage
  

ONGC [ Get Quote ] plummeted 12.84% (Rs 93) to Rs 630. SBI [ Get Quote ] also came under relentless selling pressure, and tumbled 13.18% (Rs 68) to Rs 447.

While BHEL slumped 20.32% (Rs 102) to Rs 398, HPCL [ Get Quote ] pared its losses on renewed buying to end 5% weaker (Rs 17) at Rs 315. MTNL [ Get Quote ] also ended weak with a loss of 7.71% (Rs 9) at Rs 107.

Reliance dropped 15.35% (Rs 73) to Rs 404. While ITC crashed 9.46% (Rs 86) to Rs 828, HLL [ Get Quote ] lost 15% (Rs 21) to Rs 120.

Infosys [ Get Quote ] plunged 10.92% (Rs 555) to Rs 4,527. While Wipro [ Get Quote ] tanked 18.36% (Rs 284) to Rs 1,262, Satyam [ Get Quote ] declined 5.95% (Rs 19) to Rs 293.

Grasim [ Get Quote ] came off from its early lows to end 5.81% lower (Rs 63) at Rs 1,018. While L&T dipped 9.82% (Rs 50) to Rs 463, Gujarat Ambuja [ Get Quote ] slumped 11.32% (Rs 35) to Rs 276. ACC was down 7.74% (Rs 21) at Rs 246.

Bajaj [ Images ] lost 7.49% (Rs 68) to Rs 845. While Hero Honda [ Images ] dipped 8% (Rs 35) to Rs 407, Tata Motors [ Get Quote ] shed 8.75% (Rs 36) to Rs 377.

HDFC Bank [ Get Quote ] tanked 20.63% (Rs 74) to Rs 286. Hindalco [ Get Quote ] (down Rs 24 or 2.66% to Rs 866), HDFC (down Rs 37 or 6.81% to Rs 504), Bharti (down Rs 8 or 5.81% to Rs 135) and ICICI Bank [ Get Quote ] (down Rs 26 or 9.92% to Rs 239) ended with losses.

Reliance Energy [ Get Quote ] plunged 25.55% (Rs 164) to Rs 477. While Tata Power [ Get Quote ] scaled down 19% (Rs 62) to Rs 262, Tisco [ Get Quote ] lost 9% (Rs 26) to Rs 263.

Zee, however, spurted 6.44% (Rs 7) to close at Rs 121.

Cipla shed 12.78% (Rs 32) to Rs 216. While Dr. Reddy's dipped 6.15% (Rs 52) to Rs 788, Ranbaxy [ Get Quote ] dropped 6.29% (Rs 65) to finish at Rs 970.

(With additional inputs from PTI)