Oil prices for June 2008 delivery fell 6 cents to $123.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today, 8 May 2008, in Asia after jumping to a record of $123.93 a barrel yesterday, 7 May 2008.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red today, 8 May 2008. Key indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were down by 0.23% to 2.24%. However, China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.06%.
US markets suffered sharp losses on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, on worries about inflation and higher interest rates as oil jumped to a record. Financials stocks took a beating on concerns that new disclosure requirements for investment banks will limit their profits. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 206.48 points, or 1.59%, to 12,814.35. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 44.82 points, or 1.80%, to 2,438.49. The S&P 500 shed 26 points at 1,393.
At 11:20 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 234.67 points or 1.35% at 17,104.64. The index lost 288.48 points at day’s low of17,050.83, hit in mid-morning trade.
The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 51.75 points or 1.01% at 5083.75.
The market breadth was poor on BSE with 710 shares advancing as compared to 1537 stocks that declined. 57 stocks remained unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.80% at 7,144.12 and the BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.85% at 8,652.62.
The BSE IT index was down 3.86% at 4,242.75. Satyam Computer (down 4.76% at Rs 466), TCS (down 4.48% at Rs 922.95), Infosys Technologies (down 4.11% at Rs 1,767.50), Wipro (down 3.74% at Rs 480.50), and HCL Technologies (down 1.77% at Rs 288.20), tumbled.
The BSE Bankex was down 2.38% at 8,802.14. Bank of India (down 3.72% at Rs 326.25), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 2.63% at Rs 814), HDFC Bank (down 2.54% at Rs 1,503.75), Bank of Baroda (down 2.38% at Rs 310), Axis Bank (down 1.79% at Rs 890.90) and State Bank of India (down 1.31% at Rs 1,745), slipped.
India's largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank fell 2.74% at Rs 893.70.
The BSE Oil & Gas index was down 0.64% at 11,648.43. Reliance Natural Resources (down 2.84% at Rs 114.45), Indian Oil Corporation (down 2.21% at Rs 449), BPCL (down 1.79% at Rs 376), GAIL India (down 1.69% at Rs 428.10), HPCL (down 1.11% at Rs 241.35) and ONGC (0.64% at Rs 1,033), declined.
India's biggest private sector firm by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries fell 0.27% at Rs 2,675.10.
Steel makers declined after they agreed 5-10% price reductions on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, following government pressure to cut prices. Steel Authority of India (down 2.54% at Rs 169.15), Jindal Steel & Power (down 2.18% at Rs 2227), Jindal Stainless (down 1.18% at Rs 146), JSW Steel (down 0.13% at Rs 876.10), Bhushan Steel (down 0.28% at Rs 780.50), and Uttam Galva (down 2.25% at Rs 39.15), , slipped.
India's largest steel maker by output Tata Steel rose 0.37% at Rs 827.80 after the firm said it raised Rs 2000 crore, including a greenshoe option, through a private placement of bonds.
Oil refiner Mangalore Refinery And Petrochemicals fell 3.85% to Rs 98.70. The firm reported 23.9% rise in net profit to Rs 225.34 crore on 40.7% increase in net sales to Rs 9465.13 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.
Tata Communications rose 3.78% to Rs 506 on reports the government is planning to divest its residual 26.12% stake in the company.
BSE Sensex fell 33.70 points or 0.19% at 17,339.31 and the broader based S&P CNX Nifty slipped 9.15 points or 0.18% at 5135.50, yesterday 7 May 2008.
As per provisional data, foreign funds bought shares worth a net Rs 88.30 crore yesterday, 7 May 2008. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 234.83 crore on that day.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 232.94 crore in the futures & options segment yesterday 7 May 2008. They were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 156.68 crore and bought index options worth Rs 48.59 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 170.83 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 45.98 crore.