Weak Nasdaq, Japan's recession spark sell-off

MUMBAI, JUNE 15. Sustained weakness in the Nasdaq composite index coupled with reports of a recession in Japan, the world's second- largest economy, sparked off a fresh sell-off in equities, hitting technology stocks hard and bringing the Sensex sharply down by about 81 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened weak at 3434.33 and gradually moved downwards to close at 3372.94 against yesterday's close of 3453.77, a loss of 80.83 points or 2.34 per cent. The BSE-100 index fell sharply by 42.99 points to 1642.94 from 1685.93.

Sentiment was further affected by speculation that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was contemplating to file first information report (FIR) against several badla financiers and the BSE hiked the existing BLESS margins from 17.5 per cent to 40 per cent.

However, the BSE later denied such a development.

Visibly disturbed after the badla was banned by the market regulator, speculators who had confined their deals to only winding up of long positions in the last several days, resorted to increased selling due to the developments.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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