Besides, worries over widening current account deficit, rising interest rates and the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts worsened the sentiment. The BSE Sensex slumped three per cent, biggest single-day fall in almost 16 months, as investors booked profits on concerns that the government might take some firm steps in the budget next week to control soaring inflation. The investor sentiments in D-Street were also dampened over a jump in inflation, rollover pressures in the wake of expiry of the current derivates series and caution a head of the Railway Budget on Friday and the Union Budget on Monday. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,135.12 points, closed at 17,632.41 points, down three percent or 545.92 points from its previous close at 18,178.33 points. This is the biggest single-day fall in the benchmark Sensex since November 3, 2009. The 30-scrip index hit a low of 17,559.70 points and a high of 18,135.12 points in the intraday trade. The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange fell 3.21 percent to close at 5,262.70 points.
Selling pressure was seen across the board. In the broader markets, the BSE midcap index fell 2.69 percent and the BSE smallcap index shut shop 2.60 percent down. All sectoral indices closed deep in the red. The BSE Bankex and the consumer durables indices tumbled nearly four percent. “Market sentiment appears to be extremely fragile amid concerns that the simmering political tensions in the Middle-East and North African would lift crude oil prices further. Any spike in oil prices is bad for the Indian economy as it will adversely affect the already high current account gap,” an analyst said.
The market breadth was weak and as many as 656 shares on BSE advanced while 2,225 scrips declined. However, it was a record volume for domestic bourses, especially on expiry day. The combined total traded turnover for the day stood at Rs 2,99,194.72 crore. Of this, NSE future & option segment accounted for Rs 2,77,277.49 crore and NSE cash turnover was at Rs 18,283.59 crore, besides the remaining Rs 3,633.64 was from the BSE cash segment. Meanwhile, most global markets also slumpeded on soaring crude oil prices and the turmoil in the Middle East.