MUMBAI, Aug 18: Bears tightened their grip as positive news from political or economic fronts continued to elude the markets. In the midst of political uncertainty and economic turmoil, the BSE Sensex breached the 2,900 mark to close at a new 20 month low of 2,867.99 points, registering a net loss of 49.08 points. The S&P CNX Nifty index also recorded a historic low of 831.10, before closing at 832.45 points, thus registering a net fall of 22.10 points.While the rouble devaluation continued to haunt market sentiment, the all time fall recorded by the domestic currency at Rs 43.38 saw the domestic players run for cover.
"Fears of devaluation of yuan seems to have grappled the Indian bourses," explained a BSE broker.
Market participants continued to centre their hopes around the stabilisation of the rupee and political stability, which could provide the much needed impetus to the local industry to improve its performance.
Technical analysts feel the next crucial support level could be 2,833 where institutions could provide some support. However, according to market players, if the index fails to take support at this level, it would fall further to 2,657 points.
Interestingly, the BSE recorded a substantial jump in its turnover to touch a high of Rs 1,054.41 crore. However, mirroring the speculative nature of business, more than 50 per cent of the turnover was contributed by the front line stocks like ITC, Satyam Computers, SBI, Zee Telefilm and Reliance.
FIIs continued to be net sellers at the counters of Reliance, Dr Reddy's, Telco, Zee Tele, ICICI, BPCL and HPCL. Jardine Broking was rumoured to have pressed huge sales on the Reliance counter. The GMO Fund was rumoured to have sold heavily at the counter of Satyam Computers and Zee Tele during the past two consecutive sessions.
Rumours that Digital Equipment will sell off their software business and concentrate only on their core business of hardware, saw the local punters sell a considerable chunk of their holdings. The stock closed at Rs 137.80 registering a net loss of over 2 per cent with a large volume.
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