Sensex sheds 441 points on another black Friday

The benchmark Sensex plunged 441 points in the later part of the day and closed near crucial support levels as traders booked profits after a rally in last session. Traders imputed this to the impending weekend and associated uncertainties.

Continuing with the nervousness witnessed on the previous four Fridays, the benchmark indices more than surrendered all of Thursday's gains.

The lingering concerns on inflation, a surge in crude oil prices and the deteriorating situation in Egypt seem to have aggravated the situation. The Sensex came off more than 500 points from the day's high to end at 18008, lower by 441 points and the Nifty closed below the psychological level of 5500 at 5395, down 131 points.

The midcap index ended at 6734, lower by 93 points and the smallcap index ended at 8331, down 132 points. Realty and FMCG were the top sectoral losers on the BSE.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's warning that the high headline inflation was beginning to pose a serious threat to India's high growth plans would have just added to the nervousness. It may be recollected that headline inflation for December has accelerated to 8.40 per cent on the back of high food inflation, which reached a one-year high of 18.3 per cent in end-December.

The markets had a subdued opening in the wake of the directionless cues from the US front. The Dow was up a mere 20 points and Nasdaq had closed virtually unchanged. Japan's Nikkei did end higher by around 1 per cent and the European indices added about a half a per cent each in mid-day trades, but these failed to rescue the domestic bourses from the morass that they slipped into with every passing hour. Most Asian markets were shut on account of the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.