Nasdaq crash pull BSE down by 52 points

MUMBAI, DEC 21: The Nasdaq crash made its presence felt on the Indian bourse as Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex fell 52 points on Thursday wh...

MUMBAI, DEC 21: The Nasdaq crash made its presence felt on the Indian bourse as Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex fell 52 points on Thursday while National Stock Exchange8217;s Nifty was down by 18 points. Nasdaq fell to a 21-month low on recession worries, corporate earnings warnings, and downgrades on high-tech stalwarts like Cisco Systems and IBM.

On the BSE, FMCG counters like HLL, ITC and Nestle and RIL saved the day as last minute buying propped up the index marginally. Thanks to the Nasdaq crash, domestic markets opened weak and witnessed heavy selling from institutional players and operators. The Sensex opened weak at 4013.10 and slid further downward and crashed below 4000-mark to reach at 3968.34.

However it climed back to 4064.71 points which happened to be intra-day high level on account of selective purchases in index heavy weight counters.

Meanwhile, stocks are expected to open flat for the next few days in the United States as investors find few safe havens in a market devastated by profit warnings from corporate icons and mounting fears over an economic pullback. quot;The market had a terrible day yesterday and the bear just doesn8217;t want to let loose,quot; said Peter Cardillo, director of research for Westfalia Investments.

Buying promises to be cautious as the corporate profit picture worsens. Telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies Inc and long-distance telecom giant ATamp;T Corp became the latest major US companies to warn of weaker financial results amid signs of a broad economic slowdown.

Their confessions come after skittish traders pushed the Nasdaq Composite index deeper into bear territory on Wednesday, wiping another 7 per cent off the tech-stacked index and tossing it to its worst close since March 1999. Nasdaq, which had its seventh down day in a row, is now off more than 53 per cent from its March 10 closing peak.

Wall Street could not shake loose of the bad news. Lucent before the opening bell confessed its first-quarter loss would be much larger than had been expected because of softening market conditions and said it would overhaul its business following an extensive review of its operations.

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Lucent8217;s warning followed a dismal outlook from ATamp;T, which warned after the market closed of slower-than-expected revenue growth and slashed its dividend for the first time in its 100-year history.

Micron Technology Inc., one of the largest makers of memory chips used in personal computers, on Wednesday after the market closed reported first-quarter profits that fell short of expectations as sales fell 30 per cent from the previous quarter, crimped by slowing demand.

Palm Inc., the No. 1 maker of hand-held electronic organizers, on Wednesday after the market closed reported doubling its sales in the second quarter, edging past Street estimates without delivering the revenue breakout some investors had hoped for.

Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 178.94 points, or 7.12 per cent, at 2,332.77. It was the seventh-largest decline ever for the composite in percentage terms. In points, the drop did not make the the top 10 list.