No cause for panic in stock market, says Pranab Mukherjee

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that there is no cause for panic on the stock market reaction to an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report alleging that manipulation in certain stocks had taken place.

"There is no cause for panic on the market reaction. After that, the market has stabilised - it has gone up by more than 200 points," Mukherjee told reporters after taking a review meeting of the Income Tax department here.

"Sebi is there to look into it (stock market reaction)-I don't feel there is any cause for panic," he said.

The Intelligence Bureau has reportedly come up with a report recently naming some operators allegedly indulging in price manipulation.

The BSE benchmark index Sensex fell by over 2% last week due to concerns over regulatory crackdown on companies and an ongoing probe into the second generation mobile telephony spectrum scam.

The finance minister said that at this time of the year, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) normally withdraw money because of their financial year-ending.

"You should remember that at this time of the year, FIIs withdraw money because of the year-ending as many of them have a system of closing with the calender year," he said.