Goldman, rate hike fears rattle mkts, Sensex tanks 190 pts

Mumbai, Apr 19 (PTI) Stock markets plummeted Monday with
the benchmark Sensex losing a sizeable 190 points to close at
a one month-low amid fears of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
signalling a rate hike in its annual monetary policy review
Tuesday.
The sentiment was also greatly impacted by global markets
nosediving on concerns that Goldman issue could see more
skeletons of the financial crisis tumbling out of the Wall
Street.
After tanking over 314 points on aggressive selling by
funds, the 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange
recovered some of the losses to settle at a one-month low of
17,400.68 points, a sharp loss of 190 points from its last
close.
The 50-share Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange
declined by 1.19 per cent to 5,200 points.
"The concern over RBI rate hike coupled with the fears
that US administration may further widen its scope of
investigation to some other financial majors, dragged Indian
markets," Unicon Financial CEO Gajendra Nagpal said.
Interest rate sensitive sectors-- realty, auto, bankex--
tumbled. Realty sector stocks were hit the most.
Country's largest realty firm DLF plunged 4.15 per cent
on BSE to become the biggest loser among Sensex companies.
Reliance Industries, which carries maximum weight on the
index, declined 1.97 per cent.
"The mood remained cautious ahead of the RBI annual
policy meet tomorrow. All of a sudden the tide seems to have
turned against the bulls," India Infoline Ltd VP Research
Amar Ambani said.
Financial shares also suffered hefty losses. HDFC Bank
closed down by 1.11 per cent, ICICI Bank (0.20 per cent) and
SBI (0.74 per cent).
Other major losers were ONGC (2.67 per cent), Wipro (2.56
per cent), Infosys (1.22 per cent) and ITC (1.76 per cent).
Scrips which bucked the broader weak trend and moved up
Larsen & Toubro (0.23 per cent), HDFC (0.53 per cent), Bharti
(0.56 per cent) and M&M (0.20 per cent).
"The nervousness in market was eased later in the day and
buying in some sectors helped the indices to recover a little
bit," Nagpal said.
European stock markets too were trading in the negative
in the mid-session. Britain' FTSE was down 0.59 per cent.
On Friday last, the US market regulator SEC had charged
investment banking major Goldman Sachs with fraud for causing
a loss of over USD 1 billion to investors by misrepresenting
facts about a financial product tied to sub-prime mortgages.
Among the Asian peers, China's Shanghai index closed 4.79
per cent lower with realty shares among the worst hit as
rising property prices have led to fears of a rate hike.
Japan's Nikkei fell 1.74 per cent. PTI AKH
RDM


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