Sensex tanks on Greece crisis

MUMBAI: The rising sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone, led by Greece whose bonds were cut to junk status by ratings major S&P on Tuesday, pulled global markets down on Wednesday. Dalal Street, too, felt the jitters and the BSE sensex finally settled 311 points down at 17,381, with real estate, oil & gas and metal stocks leading the slide.



Across Asia, Nikkei in Japan was the worst hit, tumbling 2.6% while Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended 1.5% off. In Europe, in early trade, most of the leading indices tumbled. As result of the combined effect, the sensex dipped to an intra-day low at 17,345 and ended marginally off that level. The day\'s 311-points slide is the benchmark index\'s worst single-session loss in nearly two months. The day\'s close was also the lowest closing level for the sensex in six weeks. Wednesday\'s slide made investors poorer by Rs 94,000 crore with BSE\'s market capitalisation now at Rs 61.8 lakh crore.



The day\'s selling was led by foreign funds with a net outflow of Rs 131 crore, BSE data showed. On the other hand, domestic institutions were net buyers at Rs 324 crore. Institutional dealers said with the European market feeling the heat from Greece\'s debt problems and also the downgrades of Greece and Portugal, some more FII outflow could be expected over the next few weeks, unless the situation there improves.



Among the sensex shares, Jaiprakash Associates ended 4.5% off at Rs 146. The other top losers were index heavyweight Reliance Industries, which ended 4.2% lower at Rs 1,017, while Tata Steel lost 3.5% at Rs 625. Of the 30 sensex shares, 25 ended in the red. In the broader market, laggards outnumbered winners by a margin of 3-to-1 with 2,176 stocks declining to 720 advancing.
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