BLACK FRIDAY, SENSEX SLIPS 455 POINTS

The BSE benchmark Sensex today tumbled by 455 points to close below key 20000-mark, wiping off Rs 1.1 lakh crore in investor wealth, on panic selling in realty, banks and PSUs as hopes of rate cut crashed after RBI comments amid GDP growth slumping to decade-low of 5 per cent. The 30-share barometer, after gaining 68 points in the previous session, tumbled 455.10 points, or 2.25 per cent to 19,760.30. This is its biggest daily loss since March 2012. HDFC, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank fell in 3-4 per cent range. Heavyweights ITC and RIL dropped by over 3.5 per cent each. L&T, SBI, ONGC and Sun Pharma also witnessed selling. All sectoral indices, barring IT, lost upto 3.3 percent. Similarly, the NSE index Nifty plunged by 138.10 points, or 2.26 percent to 5,985.95. MCX-SX flagship index, SX40 today closed 258.98 points lower, or 2.16 per cent, at 11731.91. Belying hopes of further rate cuts, the Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao's comments that there are still upside risks to inflation spooked stock markets. Additionally, RBI's concern about widening country's current account deficit amid rupee falling to over 10-month lows, also put pressure. Pulled down by poor performance of farm, manufacturing and mining sectors, economic growth slowed to 4.8 per cent in the January-March quarter and fell to a decade's low of 5 per cent for the entire 2012-13 fiscal. "The main fears in the mind of investors are ballooning current account deficit and how soon can the interest rate come down. Market is nervous also because of likely portfolio changes due to changes in the MSCI index," said Motilal Osswal, CMD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The realty sector index suffered the most by losing 3.38 per cent to 1,684.92 as DLF fell 5.41 per cent to Rs 194.85, its lowest in more than 8 months after its first quarterly loss since at least 2007. Oil and gas index was second worst performer by falling 2.71 per cent to 8,654.79 as the energy major Reliance Industries tumbled 3.62 per cent to Rs 805.60. A subdued trend in the overseas markets as investors awaited reports on American consumer confidence and business activity, also influenced the market sentiment.