Crude shock: Sensex plunges nearly 600 pts but rupee recovers

Mumbai - The benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled over 588 points to 27,254.17 and the NSE Nifty fell below the 8,300-mark in opening trade today on heavy selling by funds and investors amid global sell-off on worries about Eurozone and sinking oil prices. The 30-share barometer plunged by 588.15 points, or 2.11 percent, to 27,254.17 with all sectoral indices led by auto, IT, realty and capital goods, trading in negative zone with losses up to 2.42 percent. The index had lost 45.58 points in the previous session. On similar lines, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty slipped below the 8,300-mark by falling 174.40 points, or 2.08 percent, to 8,204. At 10:16 am, the indices were off lows with the Sensex at 27,309.74, down 532.58 or 1.91 percent and the Nifty at 8,221.30, down 157.10 or 1.88 percent. [caption id=“attachment_2031849” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Brokers said heavy selling by participants, following a weak trend at other Asian markets and an overnight slump in US shares on worries about the Eurozone and sinking oil prices, dragged down the key indices. Globally, US oil prices finished at $50.04 per barrel, down five percent, after sliding below $50 a barrel earlier in yesterday’s trade. Prominent losers among the 30 Sensex stocks were Tata Motors, ONGC, GAIL, HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank, Hero Moto, Infosys, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, RIL, SBI, Sesa Sterlite, Sun Pharma, Tata Power, Tata Steel, TCS and Wipro. Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down by 0.87 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.62 percent in early trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.86 percent lower in yesterday’s trade. However, Shane Lee of CIMB sees the current situation as a buying opportunity in India, though he is of the opinion that the emerging markets will underperform developed markets. “I think so,” he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview when asked whether he sees the present situation as a buying opportunity in India. “It is always difficult trying to pick bottom when you got what potentially is a global correction occurring. However, I do think that the global economy is led by the US in the next 12 months and provided we get exchange rate appreciations in Japan, Europe then potentially we can see growth little more broadly picking up. So I think sector rotation is going to be important in next six-twelve months. There would be some buying opportunity that will probably come out with some of the cyclical names across markets in general,” he said. The rupee, however, recovered by six paise to 63.35 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange amid sustained overseas capital inflows. Fresh selling of the American currency by exporters amid sustained inflows of foreign funds supported the rupee but a lower opening in the domestic equity market and the dollar’s gain against the euro, which sank to near nine-year low overseas, capped the rise, forex dealers said. The rupee had lost 12 paise to log nearly one-week closing low of 63.41 against the dollar in yesterday’s trade on weakness in local equities amid fresh dollar demand from importers. Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled 483.20 points, or 1.74 percent, to 27,359.12 in opening trade. With inputs from PTI