Sensex crashes on panic selling

MUMBAI, MAY 2. Equities, after showing signs of firmness, turned weak and later came down crashing with the Sensex closing today with a fall of 285.33 points on the opening day of the new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange on panic selling triggered by reports of inquiry into the accounts of some leading corporates.

Discounting positive factors such as strong fundamentals, low badla for the fourth straight settlement and a fresh rise in the Nasdaq composite index on Monday, operators went on a rampage unloading stocks following some developments considered not so relevant to the market.

The dramatic sharp reaction to the news of border tension took investors completely unaware and they ran helter skelter to unwind holdings, market sources said.The BSE sensitive index opened on a strong footing at 4736.02 and rose to a high of 4737.68. However, sudden selling across the board pushed the Sensex sharply down to the day's low of 4344.51 before it closed at 4372.22 against last Friday's close of 4657.55, netting a fall of 285.23 points. The BSE-100 index also tumbled by 163.84 points to 2232.38 from 2396.22.

However, shares of Raymond, Procter & Gamble and Hindalco stood the onslaught and rallied strongly scoring impressive gains on good buying interest.

Taking advantage of the expanded intra-day circuit filter limit that has been raised from 8 to 12 per cent, bears hammered down prices in a bid to take control of the market once again.

- PTI

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