The Hindu Business Line : Indian markets join big losers’ list

Chennai, Jan. 21 Black Monday has pushed the Indian benchmark among the worst performing stock indices in 2008. The year-to-date return for the BSE Sensex is a negative 13.55 per cent and the Nifty is down 15.47 per cent for the same period.

In comparison, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 8.79 per cent, Nasdaq 11.77 per cent and the diversified S&P-500 has tumbled 9.75 per cent this year.

While the US benchmarks have been declining since mid-December, the Indian equities were able to withstand the bear’s onslaught till now. But large-scale selling by foreign institutional investors over the past week has shaken the confidence on Indian bourses too.

European stock indices such as UK’s FTSE, German’s Dax and France’s CAC have tumbled as much as the Indian bourses. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also witnessed a sharp fall of 14.5 per cent in the year so far.

Major markets were pummelled, led by banks and mining companies, as concern that the US will fall into a recession caused major panic among global investors.

Even emerging markets – Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and Russia, have witnessed a fall in the range of 10-13 per cent this year.

Despite domestic problems, Indian neighbours – Pakistan and Sri Lanka – have performed better than most of the countries. Karachi’s index dipped 2.02 per cent.

Thanks to strong crude prices, West Asian stock indices in Amman (Jordan), Kuwait, Abu Dhabi have generated positive returns in 2008.

Among others markets, Ecuador, Mauritius and Nigeria are also in the positive zone.

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