The bears continued to dominate the bourses on Thursday, on the back of weak cues from the Asian and European markets coupled with a sudden surge in inflation figures and intense selling pressure in domestic markets.
The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) lost 385.79 points or 3.81% and closed the day below the 10k-mark at 9,734.22 points. Dealers in the market say that the equity markets opened the day on negative terrain and some profit booking was witnessed in the market, due to which it remained volatile till afternoon.
As indices were on their recovery path, the rising inflation figures pounded the market, which finally closed in the red. Inflation stood at 10.72% for the week ended October 25, 2008, against 10.68% in the previous week. The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 102.30 points or 3.42% and ended the day at 2,892.65 points. An analyst from a broking house said, ?After the five-week dip in inflation figures, investors were sure that inflation had started going down, but the sudden rise had a negative impact. Overall, market sentiments remained negative on the back of the global financial crisis.? Barring Realty and Health Care (HC), all other sectors in the BSE Sectoral indices ended the day on negative terrain. Metal and Oil & Gas sectors were the worst hit.
The breadth of the market remained negative throughout the day, as out of 2,585 stocks traded on the BSE, only 869 stocks managed to advance, 1,633 stocks declined, while 83 stocks remained unchanged.