The Sensex crashed by about 413 points ahead of closing of trade on the BSE on Monday on active profit selling by both foreign and domestic funds.
Updated at 4.49pm
MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday lost a whopping 368 points to end at a two-week low of 11,550.69 points as funds resorted to profit selling, but the fall itself was regarded by marketmen as a much-needed correction.
This is the biggest fall since July 17, when the Sensex had fallen by 385 points.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reportedly made across-the-board withdrawals from the stretched market valuations, which required a healthy correction.
The Sensex had gained by a huge 1,832.74 points or 18.17 per cent to close at 11,918.65 on September 8 from the close of 10,085.91 on July 21.
After touching a high of 11,971.60 in early trade, the Sensex later collapsed to the intra-day low of 11,505.60 before ending the day at 11,550.69 against Friday's close of 11,918.65, a net fall of 367.96 points or 3.09 per cent.
Similarly, the National Stock Exchange's (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty tumbled by 105.30 points or 3.03 per cent to 3,366.15 from previous close of 3,471.45.
Hedge funds were engaged in heavy sales in the futures & options segment during the day, brokers said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which pulled out about Rs 1,646 crore in derivatives on September 7 and 8, were heavy sellers while mutual funds and retailers remained sidelined, they added.
Hedge funds were heavy sellers all over the world, particularly in emerging markets, a leading broker commented.
The gains were over stretched during the last seven weeks and today's fall is seen as necessary for the market's sound health.
In Asian markets, the Nikkei ended lower by 286.08 points the Hang Seng by 197.17 points and the Kospi by 20.81 points.
Of the total 2,568 traded shares, 1,971 stocks recorded losses while 551 others finished with gains.
The trading volume, however, was low at Rs 3406.61 crore compared to Rs 3,503.29 crore on Friday. RIL clocked highest turnover of Rs 238.38 crore followed by Reliance Com (Rs 94.83 crore), REL Capital (Rs 93.37 crore), Maruti Udyog (Rs 80.04 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 76.46 crore).
The broad-based BSE-100 Index tumbled by 187.43 points to 5,882.52 from previous close of 6,069.95.
The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply down at 1,389.96 and 500.00 at close compared to last close of 1,435.54 and 517.32 respectively. The BSE-500 Index dropped by 142.58 points to 4,409.43 from previous close of 4,552.01 and the Dollex-30 ended sharply lower at 2,048.96 from 2,118.01.
RIL nosedived by 42.70 to 1087.65, Infosys Tech by 58.35 to 1736.35, Satyam Computer by 21.75 to 775.65, Tata Steel by 28.10 to 496.70, ONGC by 20.80 to 1176.90, Tata Motor by 49.95 to 848.05, L&T by 96.25 to 2462.10, ITC by 6.25 to 181.85, HLL by 10.90 to 230.05, HDFC Bank by 27.35 to 822.65, Bajaj Auto by 80.30 to 2698.15, Grasim by 57.10 to 2278.15, Dr Reddy's Lab by 24.65 to 713.45, Hindalco by 9.50 to 174.40, ICICI Bank by 7.40 to 596.35, Maruti Udyog by 23.35 to 917.45, SBI by 25.20 to 917.85, ACC by 40.25 to 905.20, Bharti Airtel by 9.45 to 420.60, Cipla by 11.90 to 245, GACL by 5.05 to 110.10, HDFC by 9.90 to 1328.85, NTPC by 4.15 to 120.90, REL by 29 to 459.10, TCS Ltd by 38.10 to 955 and BHEL by 71.05 to 2254.60.
However, Hero Honda was exceptionally up by 9.25 to 745.25.
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