Markets extend fall

Indian stock markets continued to fall during the week,with both Sensex and Samp;P CNX Nifty ending the week 2.3 per cent lower. The week begun on a weak note,with reports of North Korea shelling South Korean troops sending jitters throughout the global markets,including India. Mid-week,a housing loan scam broke out,which saw top personnel of some public listed banks being arrested. This weighed heavily on the minds of the investors,who were particularly severe on real estate and construction players,as well as the banks whose name had been dragged into the scam. This negative sentiment was maintained throughout the remainder of the week,with the market losing further ground at the time of expiry. BSE mid-cap and BSE small-cap indices fell even more compared to the large cap indices,with the BSE mid-cap index falling by 5.8 per cent and the BSE small-cap index falling by 7.0 per cent during the week. On the sectoral front,the BSE Realty Index was the biggest loser yet again,crashing by 13.6 per cent,partly as a fallout of the housing related scam. It was followed by the BSE Metal index,which fell by 6.4 per cent. BSE IT sector was the star of the week,gaining 2.0 per cent.

Sarabjeet K Nangra,VP,Research,Angel Broking