Sensex ends down 727 points, HDFC drops 9%

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 144 points at 16,227 on negative cues from the global markets.

Unabated selling in capital goods, financial and technology stocks saw the index drop to a low of 15,616 - down 755 points from the previous close.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 727 points at 15,644.

The index thus ended the month with a loss of 11% (1,934 points), and finished fiscal year 2007-08 with a gain of 19.7% (2,572 points).
 

Big Falls this March
Date	Close	Prv Cls	Chg	% Chg
17-Mar-08	14809.49	15760.52	(951.03)	(6.03)
03-Mar-08	16677.88	17578.72	(900.84)	(5.12)
13-Mar-08	15357.35	16127.98	(770.63)	(4.78)
31-Mar-08	15644.44	16371.29	(726.85)	(4.44)
07-Mar-08	15975.52	16542.08	(566.56)	(3.42)

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,699 stocks traded, 1,364 advanced, 1,291 declined and 44 were unchanged on Monday.

The NSE Nifty dropped 207 points to close at 4,735.

Index shakers

HDFC tumbled nearly 9% to Rs 2,384. ICICI Bank slumped nearly 8% to Rs 770, and HDFC Bank shed nearly 6% at Rs 1,320. SBI slipped nearly 5% to Rs 1,599.

TCS dropped nearly 7% to Rs 811. Wipro and Infosys plunged over 6% each to Rs 425 and Rs 1,430, respectively. Satyam declined 3.5% to Rs 395.

DLF tumbled 7% to Rs 647. ONGC dropped 6.7% to Rs 981.

Reliance Energy and Hindalco slipped over 6% each to Rs 1,251 and Rs 165, respectively.

Jaiprakash Associates plunged 5.7% to Rs 227. Hindustan Unilever dropped 5.5% to Rs 229.

Reliance Communications and Grasim declined around 5% each to Rs 508 and Rs 2,575, respectively. Larsen & Toubro was down nearly 4% to Rs 3,025.

NTPC, Reliance, Tata Motors and Tata Steel slipped around 3.5% each to Rs 197, Rs 2,265, Rs 623 and Rs 693, respectively.

Value and volume toppers

Reliance Capital topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 324 crore followed by GSS America (Rs 289.20 crore), Reliance (Rs 257.60 crore), Orchid Chemicals (Rs 187.40 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 162.35 crore).

Ispat Industries led the volume chart with trades of around 2.34 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (1.33 crore), Orchid Chemicals (1.18 crore), IFCI (1.14 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (1.02 crore).