Sensex sheds 253 points, closes below 16K

Indian stocks on Friday registered a sharp fall with the Sensex taking a 253-point plunge to close below the 16,000 mark (16K) following renewed concerns over decelerating Indian economic growth and worries over China showing slower pace of manufacturing expansion. The market which opened flat, quickly slipped into a negative zone and closed at 15,965.16 points, the lowest level in a week. Traders were tracking weak Asian and European markets that lost between 1-2 per cent. While Asian markets were influenced by lesser-than -expected growth in the China’s manufacturing, troubles in Spain and Ireland affected the sentiment in Europe. The Indian stocks saw a combined impact of these global factors on top of domestic woes as reflected by the nine-year low GDP growth of 5.3 per cent in the last quarter of the fiscal 2011-12. The official purchasing managers’ index -covering Chinese companies fell to 50.4 level in May, the weakest reading this year. India’s manufacturing sector also slipped marginally in May, an HSBC survey on Friday said. Across the Indian market, seven out of 10 stocks ended lower leaving investors poorer by Rs 91,000 crore. Capital Goods, Power, Auto, Refinery and IT indices logged losses of at least 2 per cent while shares of Banking, Metal, Realty, PSU and Healthcare sectors also moved down. In Sensex, 27 of the 30 stocks ended the session with losses with Tata Motors emerging as the biggest loser down 3.73 per cent after investors sold shares due to lacklustre sales in May, followed by L&T (3.22 per cent) and Reliance (3.2 per cent). “Selling pressure intensified in the equity markets not only in India but in Asia and Europe too. After a flat opening, markets went deep in to red soon after,” Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth & Securities said. The stock market also ignored rupee’s strength against the US dollar on Friday with the domestic currency trading back at 55-levels on Friday after hitting a record low of 56.52 yesterday. The NSE 50-share Nifty also fell by 82.65 points or 1.68 per cent to 4,841.60. Most Asia markets ended lower after data indicated that momentum is slowing in the Chinese economy. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea were down by 0.38 per cent to 2.68 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite was flat. From / Gulf Today