US military strikes turn stocks weak

Mumbai, Oct 8: The air and missile strikes against Afghanistan last night triggered panic sales, pushing the Sensex sharply down to the day’s low of 2718.41 at early stages on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) on Tuesday.

However, the BSE barometer later rallied smartly following a partial recovery in key stocks as finance minister Yashwant Sinha ruled out any major impact of the war on Indian economy, saying it would have very little impact as it is a limited operation. Initially, the Sensex had plunged to a low of 2718.41 on fears that the on-going conflict between the US and Afghanistan would adversely affect the economy.

The Sensex later rallied smartly on buying support prompted by the government’s encouraging statement and closed at 2765.37 as against last Friday’s close of 2812.90, still showing a net loss of 47.53 points or 1.69 per cent.

The sentiment was also aided by reports that the basket oil price used by Opec to set its output remained below $22 despite the US air strikes.

The war factor was almost discounted with stocks falling sharply after the September 11 terrorist attack on the US, market sources said adding "the sensex is unlikely to fall below this level".

— PTI