The Hindu Business Line : Sensex sheds 279 points on profit booking

Mumbai June 6 Profit booking across sectors along with weak global cues sent stock markets crashing to their lowest in over a month. The BSE-30 Sensex plunged 279.08 points to close at 14,255.93 on Wednesday.

The NSE S&P CNX index lost 2.02 per cent to end the day at 4,198.25 .

Heavy profit booking was seen in frontline stocks. "Markets have moved rapidly in the past two months and investors booked profits on the high gains they have made which led to the selling," said Mr K.D. Mehru, Vice-President - Equity, Khandwala Securities.

All sectoral indices ended in red with auto and bank stocks pulling down markets. The BSE Bankex index fell 2.93 per cent, while the BSE Oil and Gas index lost 3.16 per cent.

Foreign institutional investors, who have been buying in the markets turned net sellers at Rs 230.97 crore as per provisional figures on the NSE.

"Markets traced global pressure and also the Asian markets were weak," said Mr Bhavesh Vakharia, Had-Retail Dealing, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Ltd. "Also, investors have booked profits and are looking at investing in the big IPOs of DLF and ICICI Bank," he added.

The overall market breadth was negative with stocks of 1,706 companies declining, while that of 842 companies advanced.

Tata Steel was the biggest loser at Rs 617.70, down 3.66 per cent followed by HDFC at Rs 1,830.70, down 3.51 per cent and Tata Motors at Rs 687, down 3.37 per cent.

IT stocks, however, posted gains as the rupee weakened against the dollar.

Hindalco Industries, Reliance Communication and Satyam Computer were the biggest gainers among the Sensex companies.