Sensex plunges below 9100 mark

New Delhi: The markets tumbled on selling pressure on Monday. It was the biggest single day fall for Sensex since October 6, 2005.

Banking and auto stocks were the biggest dragger for the market. Selling was seen across the board.

The Sensex closed down 171.02 points or 1.85 per cent at 9085.89. It touched an intraday high of 8262.48 and an intraday low of 8050.51.

The Nifty closed down 55.25 points or 1.97 per cent at 2749.60. It touched an intraday high of 2804.30 and an intraday low of 2741.80.

The CNX Midcap Index closed down 84.60 points or 2.13 per cent at 3879.80. It touched an intraday high of 3961.80 and an intraday low of 3870.90.

The BSE Small Cap Index closed down 149.68 points or 2.57 per cent at 5668.02. The BSE Midcap Index closed down 2.06 per cent at 4263.38.

The market breadth was negative; NSE advance-decline ratio was at 1:7. The total market turnover was at Rs 33973.62 crore.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 71.39 crore in F&O and Rs 46.70 crore in Nifty Futures on December 23.

The BSE Bankex extremely underperformed the other indices. It closed down 3.19 per cent or 161.29 points at 4899.86 amid selling in Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra, Bank of Baroda, IOB, UTI Bank, Union Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Andhra Bank and Oriental Bank.

Auto stocks like TVS Motor, M&M, Bharat Forge, Asahi India, Apollo Tyres, Tube Investment, Escorts, Ashok Leyland, Cummins, Hindustan Motors, Bajaj Auto, Amtek Auto and Maruti Udyog also tumbled. The BSE Auto Index closed down 2.09 per cent at 4140.04.

Metal stocks including Jindal Stainless, JSW Steel, Sesa Goa, Nalco, Jindal Saw, Sail, Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Gujarat NRE Coke and Sterlite Ind also ended in red. The BSE Metal Index closed down 1.71 per cent or 108.64 points at 6239.91.

The BSE FMCG Index closed down 1.38 per cent at 1592.45 as losses were seen in Shaw Wallace, Colgate, McDowell, Dabur India, Tata Tea, HLL and ITC.

Technology stocks including Hexaware Tech, MphasiS BFL, Moser Baer, HCL Info, Satyam, I-Flex Solutions, Wipro and Infosys also lost ground. The BSE IT Index closed down 1.33 per cent at 3644.38.

The BSE Healthcare Index closed down 1.32 per cent at 3008.86 due to selling in Nicholas Piramal, Matrix Lab, Novartis India, Wockhardt, Orchid Chemical, Aurobindo Pharma, Sterling Biotech, Aventis Pharma and GSK Pharma.

Consumer durables stocks like Samtel Color, Su-Raj Diamonds, BPL, Titan Industries, Mirc Electronics, Blue Star and Videocon International also finished lower. The BSE Consumer Durables Index closed down 1.25 per cent at 3098.15.

Capital goods stocks including Alstom Projects, Gammon India, BHEL, BEML, SKF India, HEG, Bharat Electronics, ABB and Siemens also crashed. The BSE Capital Goods Index closed down 1.23 per cent at 5576.99.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index closed down 1.08 per cent at 4214.97 as Oil stocks like Chennai Petroleum, Gail, HPCL, MRPL, BPCL, Kochi Refineries, Petronet LNG, Reliance, ONGC and IOC also scaled down.

Several cement, hotel, media, paper, sugar, tea, shipping, telecom and textile stocks also witnessed selling pressure.