SME stocks under lens, Sensex falls 900 points

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, March 13

The 30-company Sensex plummeted over 900 points mainly due to a sharp fall in smallcap and midcap indices amidst news that the Securities and Exchange Board of India would be examining several recent SME IPOs issued by them. Foreign investors turning into net sellers was also a contributory factor to the fall in share prices.

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The Sensex ended the day 1.23 per cent lower at 72,761.89 points while the broad-based Nifty sank 1.51 per cent to end the day at 21,997.70 points. But the decline was sharper in BSE’s smallcap, which fell 5.11 per cent as well as in the midcap index, which slid by 4.20 per cent. On Tuesday, the Sensex had closed at 73,667.96 points and Nifty at 22,335.70.

The major losers in Sensex were Reliance, Tata Steel and Tata Motors, Power Grid, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel and Titan. The major gainers were financial sector companies such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance.

On a losing streak for a week, the fall in Adani Group companies was sharper on Wednesday. All the 10 listed companies of the Group were cumulatively down 13 per cent leading to an erosion of over Rs 90,000 crore in market capitalisation.