Sensex ends below 19,000-mark

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The BSE benchmark sensex Tuesday plunged 450 points to end below the 19,000-mark after five weeks on massive all-round selling as the rupee hit record low of 61.80 against the dollar.

After a lower start, the sensex dropped 449.22 points, or 2.34 per cent to 18,733.04, its lowest level since June 27.

The loss of 449.22 points Tuesday was the steepest since June 20 when sensex plunged by over 526 points.

Major losers that dragged down the market were ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, BHEL, HDFC Ltd, Larsen and Toubro, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Mahindra and Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki.

Across market, investors became poorer by a whopping Rs 1.37 lakh crore as seven out of every 10 stocks fell. Indian stock market has dropped out of the trillion-dollar club with market capitalisation currently standing at Rs 60.2 lakh crore.

Brokers said the market remained under pressure as the rupee hit a record low of 61.80 against the dollar raising fears of higher inflation and increase of capital outflows.

They said the falling rupee also raised concerns about more monetary tightening measures that might hurt revenues of leading companies depending on imports.

The Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange tumbled 143.15 points, or 2.52 per cent, to 5,542.25, led by stocks of consumer durables, metals, banks and other interest-sensitive sectors.

SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed at 11,125.38, down 303.34 points or 2.65 per cent.

In 30-BSE index components, 26 stocks fell and three gained while NTPC ended unchanged.

Market sentiment dampened further as non-index stocks of Financial Technologies, the promoter of National Spot Exchange, tumbled 19.60 per cent to Rs 159.15 following reports that the government is likely to ban trading in e-series contracts on NSEL.

The consumer durables sector index suffered the most by losing 5.55 per cent followed by realty index (4.45 per cent). Bank index fell by 3.90 per cent and metal index by 3.24 per cent.