“Black Monday” revisited

The stock markets witnessed their worst week ever with the Sensex tumbling 1347 points in five trading sessions.

Trading was suspended in the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday after the Sensex crashed by over 1,000 points and hit the 10 per cent lower circuit. However, trading had resumed at 1300 hours IST.

Facing an unprecedented situation and the sharpest ever fall, stock market authorities had suspended trading for an hour, first time after May 17, 2004.

The story was repeated again. A previous Black Monday was witnessed on May 17,2004. Sensex had then dropped by 565 points, its third biggest fall ever, to close at 4,505. With the NDA Government out of power and the Left parties, part of the UPA coalition government, flexing their muscle, the Sensex witnessed its biggest intra-day fall of 842 points, twice attracting suspension of trading. At close, however, it regained some of its lost ground.

Sensex fall over a week’s time:

May 19, 2006: The blow was not as severe as the one the market had taken the previuous day, but still, it proved lethal enough to knock off a massive 452.82 points or 3.98% from the Sensex. As the session opened in morning, the bulls went one up as they lifted the Sensex by over 300 points to 11,697.11 by picking up stakes in a host of blue chip stocks. However, once the early aggression gave way to a pessimistic mood, the market kept moving in and out of the positive territory for a couple of hours before giving in meekly to the bears.

May 18, 2006: While the 30 share BSE sensitive index Sensex went crashing by 826.38 points or 6.76% to close at 11,391.43, around 61 points off its intra-day low of 11,330.45, the broader 50 stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange, which tanked to a low of 3365.90 around late afternoon, settled at 3388.90, recording a massive loss of 6.77% or 246.20 points for the day.

May 17, 2006: The Sensex opened the day's trade with a huge positive gap and with the bulls - they remained absolutely relentless today - going about their task of lapping up blue chip stocks in a frenzied manner, it remained buoyant right through the day and ended the session with a thumping gain of 344.08 points or 2.9% at 12,217.81, slightly lower than its intra-day high of 12,238.81.

May 16, 2006: Tracking global melt down, equities, notwithstanding a somewhat modest upmove in early trade, opened on a highly listless and negative note this morning and at one time, it looked like the Sensex would lose much more than what it had lost yesterday. So severe was the intensity of selling pressure that the Sensex plummeted to a low of 11,378.96, recording a massive 443 points loss around late forenoon.

May 15, 2006: Monday & May seem to be a cursed day & month for stock trades. Reminiscent of Black Monday of May 17, 2004, Monday of May 14, 2006 also witnessed sharp fall in the Sensex.

While the Sensex, which crashed to an intra-day low of 11,770.76, ended the session with a whopping loss of 462.91 points or 3.77% at 11,822.20, the National Stock Exchange's 50 stock Nifty index, which settled at 3502.95, around 20 points off its low of 3482.85, posted a loss of 4.03% or 147.50 points for the day.

Source: Sify Business.

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