Market crashes: Sensex ends below 25000, Nifty dives 96 pts

Moneycontrol Bureau

The bears tightened their grip on Dalal Street as the bulls continue to run for cover. In yet another late sell-off caught investors off guard as the market ended with losses for the 6th straight session. 

The Sensex ended at 15-month low while Nifty was at 14-month low at closing. The 30-share index ended down 308.09 points or 1.2 percent at 24893.81, and the 50-share index slipped 96.25 points or 1.3 percent at 7558.80. The Nifty has lost 17 percent from its highest level in 2015 and the Bank Nifty lost nearly 25 percent.

The band-aids from the 2008 financial crisis are coming off and the wounds haven't really healed, says Shankar Sharma of First Global. However he does add that macro-economic fundamentals remain strong.

He expects 20 percent downside in emerging markets and 10 percent downside in India. “I think emerging merkets have a 20 percent downside and India has probably a 10 percent downside because India will definitely be more resilient. I dont think you should bet on huge upside for any global market,” he says in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The rupee tumbled to fresh two-year lows as the dollar remains strong versus most Asian peers. The Indian currency hit 66.85 as demand for dollars remains robust from corporates and importers. The rupee ended at 2-year closing low of 66.82 per dollar versus 66.46 per dollar on Friday.Meanwhile, Met Department has retained its monsoon forecast. “ If you go region wise, east and northeast India has got deficiency of 3 percent but the northwest India like Punjab, Haryana all that comes,  deficiency rate is 14 percent and sub-divisions like Punjab, Haryana  has deficiency of around 30-40 percent,” DS Pai, the Director of t Long Range Forecast at the Indian Metrological Department says.Among the global markets, China fell 2.5 percent as the country revised its 2014 GDP growth to 7.3 percent from 7.4 percent.

Big losersAll indices were badly hurt in trade today. Bankex, Metals and Pharma indices suffered the most.ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Vedanta, Dr Reddy's Labs and BHEL were major losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers were HDFC, ONGC, M&M and ONGC. Midcap Index was down 2.2 percent from previous close.

Midcaps were big underperformers with laggards like Amtek, Jubilant Life, Chennai Petro, Jyothy Labs and KRBL.