The metals sector was the worst hit on the domestic bourses by the continued battering of stocks in the wake of the US subprime mortgage crisis. The slide in metal stocks was followed by the realty and banking sector scrips, which were also badly bruised compared to front-running stocks.
The metal stocks were major losers as the prices of the commodities have started moving southward in the global markets. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)?s metal index shed 6.51% or 717 points at 10,299.61 point.
Commenting on the market meltdown, Bhavesh Shah, head of research at Asit C Mehta Investment advisors, said that a dip in LME metal prices in the global market on Wednesday was responsible for the metal stocks going down in the domestic market. The realty sector was the second biggest loser. BSE Realty index shed 5.56% or 410 points to end at 6,980 points. The subprime crisis has hit investors? sentiments towards banking stocks. The counter shed 5.42% or 425 points to end at 7,421 points.
Shah said that the continuance of the subprime mortgage crisis in the global market has hit banking stocks also. The market sentiments has weakened towards banking stocks fearing that the subprime factor will directly hit the credit market, which may impact the banking sector. These sectoral indices outpaced the losses suffered by the benchmark Sensex which dipped 4.28% or 642 points to end at 14,358 points. There were some more sectoral indices that shed more than benchmark index.