Sensex loses 1,400 pts in nine sessions

MUMBAI: A statement by the CBI counsel in the Supreme Court, which is hearing the 2G telecom spectrum allocation scam around Thursday noon, unnerved the stock market and led to a 1.4% slide in the sensex, its ninth consecutive session of losses and the longest such stint in a decade.

K K Venugopal, the CBI lawyer, said the agency could seek further details from business tycoons Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani. The statement triggered further jitters among investors on Dalal Street, leading to panic selling in the second half of the session with the sensex finally settling at 18,211, down 259 points. Over the last nine sessions, the sensex has lost nearly 1,400 points, or 7.1% while investors wealth, measured in terms of BSE's market cap, is down by about Rs 4.30 lakh crore to Rs 66 lakh crore now.

The slide was again prompted by foreign fund selling, with real estate, software and FMCG stocks leading the laggards. BSE data showed that FIIs were net sellers at Rs 780 crore, taking the current month's net outflow figure to about Rs 3,200 crore ($700 million). Institutional dealers said most of this selling is coming from exchange traded funds of European origin which invest here through the FII route.

The main reasons for foreign fund selling are rising inflation, which is leading to higher interest rate, increasing crude prices, which could force the government's fiscal calculations to go haywire and expectations of moderation in growth rates, dealers said. On Thursday, the CBI counsel's statement led to a 5.5% slide in RCOM, which closed at Rs 89. Among other companies allegedly involved in the 2G scam, Unitech lost 3.4% to Rs 35 while DB Realty closed 3.3% down at Rs 86.

Among the sensex stocks, other than RCom, which was the top loser, Tata Power lost 5.2% to Rs 1,229 and Reliance Infra closed 4.2% off at Rs 617. Of the 30 sensex stocks, 27 ended in the red.