MUMBAI, JAN 8: Entertainment stocks fell like nine pins in late afternoon trades on the stock exchanges after reports filtered in that film financier and diamond merchant, Bharat Shah has been arrested by the city police. Entertainment shares were big losers with all the speculative shares like Padmalaya Telefilms (Rs 121.95), Balaji Telefilms (Rs 316.25) and Mukta Arts (Rs 247.65) being locked at their 8 per cent lower limits. Most other media shares like Pritish Nandy Communications (down 7.4 per cent to its yet another new low at Rs 73.05), Creative Eye (down 7.88 per cent to Rs 53.20) and Zee Telefilms (down 4.78 per cent to Rs 260) were sharply down. The arrest of Shah affected the sentiment badly as Shah is considered to be a close associate of one of the leading bull operators. "Besides, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell sharply by 6.20 per cent on Friday, forcing foreign institutional investors to sell technology and media stocks," dealers said. A number of software and telecom shares also crashed on the BSE. While shares of HFCL were down over 14% to Rs 1,196, Global Tele-Systems shares were down 11.73% to Rs 761. In other software shares, DSQ Software (down 9.98% to Rs 374.05), SSI (down 8% to Rs 1,346.40), Infosys (down 6% to Rs 5,995) and Satyam Computer (down 5.6% to Rs 366.55) were sharply down. Brokers say that Shah has made huge investments in entertainment and media shares indirectly through a Big Bull and after his arrest there was a nervous unwinding on the bourses. However, in a communication to this newspaper, Ketan Parekh, a Bombay Stock Exchange member had denied any links with Shah. Reflecting the bearish trend, the 30-share Sensex opened at 4164.76 points, touched the day's high of 4206.72 points, a low of 4101.53 points, before closing at 4120.43 points, showing a net loss of 63.37 points (1.51 per cent) from the previous close of 4183.73 points. The S&P CNX Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also moved down by 17.90 points to 1309.35 points from the previous close of 1327.25 points.
