Sensex plunges 291 points on US downgrade

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex ended the session with a loss of over 290 points due to downgrade of US credit rating by Standard & Poor’s and Eurozone debt woes.
At 3.30 pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 291.08 points or 1.68 per cent at 17,014.79 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 88 points or 1.69 per cent at 5,123.25.
All the sectoral indices ended in red. Among them, realty was down 4.72 per cent, IT 3.96 per cent, metal 3.84 per cent and teck 3.26 per cent. Of the total 2,941 stocks traded, 727 advanced, 2,107 declined and 107 remained unchanged.
However, the general sentiment in the Indian market was one of relief and optimism with the initial panic of the day slowly subsiding.
“While these are challenging times, it is not a disaster scenario for India. There will be some benefit from the chaos for India as commodities’ prices are expected to fall,” said  a leading analyst.
Most of the European markets opened in the green on Monday bringing back confidence in the Indian markets.
“Long positions have been taken in few of the large-cap stocks. Valuations are looking attractive as of now. Investors are finally starting to realise now that the Indian markets will not be affected much,” commented another analyst. Except for the Stockholm Index, all other major European markets were up as of Monday morning.
According to marketmen the downgrade of the US credit rating had been expected for the last three four years. “We fear whether there are more such downgrades to come from the Eurozone,” said a dealer with an Indian brokerage.