Realty stocks collapse, Index plunges over 5%

Market was trying to hit a new milestone of 18000 mark in early trade, bulls also grappling with bears for that but bears started strengthening power and remained charged up through the day. Sensex touched a low of 17,322.14 (down nearly 451 points or 2.5%), ended lower by 1.6% or 282 points at 17,491.39. Nifty also closed down 100 points.

Real estate sector has beaten very badly today. The BSE Realty Index closed at 9,283.22, down 3.6% after touching an intraday low of 9,096.26 (down 535 points or 5.56%) against previous close.

HDIL lost nearly 9% during an intraday trade and ended at Rs 693.95, down 3.56%. Anant Raj Industries, which goes ex-split from today (from Rs 10 to Rs 2), also slipped 8.6% during the day. It closed lower by 7.73% at Rs 302.85.

DLF will be included in the Sensex from November 19, 2007. Even this news did not help the stock and it fell more than 6% during the day. But it recovered some loss in late trade and closed down just by 1.5% at Rs 839.1.

Unitech, second largest real estate player, finished at Rs 308.5, down 5.61% as against previous close.