New Delhi, India (BBN)-Indian stock markets closed with big losses for a second straight day amid a crash in many well-known property and infrastructure stocks.
The Sensex closed below the psychological 27,000 level for the first time since May 12, 2015.
HERE ARE 10 MUST-KNOW DEVELOPMENTS:
1) The Sensex, which fell as much as 490 points in intraday trade, ended at 26,837 after falling 351 points or 1.3 per cent. The Nifty, which declined as much as 140 points, settled at 8,135.
2) The biggest selloff was seen in property stocks; the realty sub-index on the BSE plunged nearly 10 per cent in intraday trade. Shares in property developer Unitech crashed over 50 per cent at one point of trade; they ended 35 per cent lower at Rs 8.70. Unitech in a statement said, "Rumours are being spread by certain segments of the market to profit from trading pertaining to Unitech defaulting on repayments to certain lenders, which are false and misleading."
Shares in Jaiprakash Associates also crashed around 30 per cent in intraday trade; the stock recovered to close 21 per cent lower at Rs 13.05. Jaiprakash Power Ventures shares fell as much as 25 per cent. Jaiprakash, which has been selling assets in recent quarters to cut its heavy debt load and improve balance sheet, "categorically denied" rumours related to a share revocation and defaults in repayment obligations.
3) FMCG stocks also came under huge selloff tracking losses in Nestle, which fell as much as 11.5 per cent because of the ongoing controversy about Maggi noodles. Maggi contributes nearly 20 per cent to Nestle's revenues. Nestle ended 9 per cent lower at Rs 6,181.
4) Real carnage was witnessed in several midcap and small cap stocks. The small cap sub-index on the BSE closed 2 per cent lower, underperforming the broader Sensex. Stocks that fell sharply with large volumes included Suzlon (-9.4 per cent), Adani Power (-10.8 per cent), Reliance Power (-11.35 per cent) and HCC (-12.3 per cent).
5) Among Nifty companies, big losses were seen in cigarette maker ITC (-4.5 per cent), Bosch (-4.5 per cent) and Cairn India (-4 per cent). Tata Power closed 5.6 per cent lower
6) FMCG stocks also came under huge selloff tracking losses in Nestle, which fell as much as 10 per cent because of the ongoing controversy about Maggi noodles. Maggi contributes nearly 20 per cent to Nestle's revenues.
7) Market analyst Rajat Bose said the Nifty has broken the 200-day simple and exponential moving averages, which does not augur well for investors. There is a possibility that the Nifty will test 8,050-7,995, he added.
8) The nearly 350-point slump in Nifty in two days may have led to margin pressures, Mr Malkani said. He added that the fall in markets could be on account of huge selloff by foreign investors. It seems that bear cartels might be jumping in, he added.
9) This is the second straight day of big selloff in domestic equity markets. On Tuesday, the Sensex had crashed 700 points in intraday trade after the RBI downgraded its growth estimate for the current year and raised inflation target to 6 per cent. The downgrade in monsoon forecast also spooked stock markets.
10) Analysts say external factors, such as the fear of US Federal Reserve raising interest rates the ongoing Greek crisis, have also spooked investors.