The Hindu : Sensex crashes by 78 points on FI sell-off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003

Business

Business

Sensex crashes by 78 points on FI sell-off

MUMBAI MARCH 24. Stocks that had discounted the actual breakout of war in the Gulf region last week, crashed today pulling the Sensex down by over 78 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange on heavy sell-off by Indian financial institutions and unwinding of positions by operators.

The Unit Trust of India was believed to be heavy sellers in top heavyweights such as RIL, HLL, Infosys Technologies, HPCL, Tisco and several others.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index which had gained about 134 points last week, reacted sharply dipping to the intra-day low at 3137.56 before ending at 3140.36 against last Saturday's close of 3218.73, netting a huge fall of 78.37 points or 2.43 per cent. The broad-based BSE-100 index declined by 34.81 points to 1553.67 from 1588.48.

Attributing the sudden burst of selling to fears of a long war in the Gulf, brokers said investors seriously viewed reports about biggest battlefield casualties suffered by the U.S.-led forces so far in the Iraq campaign, which has raised concerns the world over that the war could be more difficult than expected.

Brokers said the market situation changed for the worst as operators resorted to selling in a bid to unwind their positions in reaction to heavy profit booking in key counters by the largest mutual fund.

In the specified group, 170 including 26 index-based counters registered losses while 20 others closed with gains.

PTI

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