Sensex slips below 16,000, Reliance, Infosys fall

The BSE Sensex plunged over 200 points, slipping below the crucial 16,000 mark in the afternoon session Thursday. Weakness in global markets weighed on equities.

The rupee also gave up most gains and traded at 56 to the dollar. It had earlier pulled back to 55.75 against the greenback in intraday trade.

India’s faltering growth weighed on sentiments. A number of investment banks downgraded India's GDP growth for the current fiscal after data indicated that March quarter GDP had grown at the slowest in nine years.

"Building from the incoming weaker growth data and continued weak global funding environment, we are cutting our 2012 GDP growth estimate further to 5.7% from 6.3%," Morgan Stanley said in its report today.

At 03.25 p.m., the Sensex traded 270 points or 1.7% lower at 15,948, while the Nifty index declined 89 points to 4,835.


Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank were the biggest drag on the Sensex, accounting for over 80 index points on the benchmark. Energy (-2.26%), capital goods (-2%) and IT (-1.95%) stocks were the big underperformers in trade. Banking (-1.56%) and auto (-1.62%) stocks also saw selling pressure.
47 of the 50 stocks slipped in the red on the Nifty index. Asian Paints (-5.2%), drug maker Ranbaxy (-4.7%) and oil and gas major Cairn India (-4.3%) were the three top losers on the Nifty. Tobacco major ITC (1.6%), infra and cement major Jaiprakash Associates (0.5%) and ICICI Bank were the only gainers on the Nifty.

The market breadth was extremely weak, with only 20% stocks rising on the broader BSE 500 index.

"Yesterday, we held on because of technical reasons (expiry). Otherwise, this market has nothing to offer. The bias is negative and all news flow - domestic or global - is negative," Ashu Madan, COO of Religare Securities told NDTV Profit.

Asian stocks ended lower after May's PMI data in China indicated a slowdown in the manufacturing sector. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Thailand and Japan closed with 1-2.7 per cent cuts.

European stocks also traded lower. Markets in France were down 0.8%.

Overnight, the Dow closed 0.2% lower at 12,393, capping the worst May in two years. Jobless claims rose to a five-week high and the economy grew at 1.9% in the first quarter, below estimates of 2.2%.