Sensex down more than 500 points

Key benchmark indices slumped further in red in afternoon trade.
Sensex lost more than 500 points. Asian and European stocks dropped
on persistent questions on the effectiveness of the US bailout
package and on continued instability in the global banking sector.
The barometer index BSE Sensex today fell below the 13,000 mark.

Capital goods and power stocks declined . ICICI Bank fell more than
11% while Jaiprakash Associates fell more than 12%. Reliance
Industries dropped. The market breadth extremely weak as selling
was witnessed across the board.




The US lawmakers agreeing on a $700 billion bank-rescue package and
the House of Representatives approving the nuclear deal with India
over the weekend failed to boost the investor sentiments.

European markets which opened after Indian markets were down in
opening trade. France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100
were down between 2.53% to 2.88%. European markets fell as the
Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments were forced to rescue
financial firm Fortis over the weekend. In addition, reports
suggest the British government will take over mortgage lender
Bradford & Bingley.

Most Asian markets were trading lower today, 29 September 2008.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Japan's Nikkei, Singapore's Straits Times,
South Korea's Seoul Composite fell between 1.26% 4.07%.




In US, congressional leaders from both parties said they had a
tentative agreement on Sunday, 28 September 2008 and lawmakers
prepared to vote on Monday, 29 September 2008, on a $700 billion US
government fund to buy bad debt. The bailout plan will be
introduced in the House of Representatives today, 29 September 2008
and then head to the Senate.

Meanwhile, the Indo-US nuclear deal moved into the last lap
clearing a major hurdle when the House of Representatives approved
a legislation on it that will now go to the Senate before the two
countries can implement the civil nuclear agreement.

At 13:23 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 510.17 points or
3.89% to 12,594.04. The index shed 533.14 points at the day's low
of 12,569.04 hit in afternoon trade. The Sensex edged up 11.35
points at day's high of 13,113.53, hit at the onset of the trading
session.




The S&P CNX Nifty was down 143.80 points or 3.61% to 3,841.45.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 4.76% at 4,705.49 and the BSE
Small-Cap index was down 5.02% at 5,567.79.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 266 shares advancing as
compared to 2,178 that declined. 36 shares remained unchanged.

India's largest private firm by market capitalization and oil
refiner Reliance Industries fell 2.48% to Rs 1,915.

Capital goods stocks declined. The BSE Capital Goods index fell
4.22% to 10,339.97. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 2.87% to Rs
1,506.10), Larsen & Toubro (down 4.02% to Rs 2,369) edged lower.

India's largest wind turbine manufacturer by sales Suzlon Energy
declined 9.01% to Rs 159, even as the company said on Monday, 29
September 2008, IDFC Private Equity would buy 17.1% in its
subsidiary SE Forge for Rs 400 crore.




Power stocks fell. The BSE Power index declined 3.68% to Rs
2,261.40. NTPC (down 3.22% to Rs 168.40), PowerGrid Corporation of
India (down 1.69% to Rs 87.50), Reliance Power (down 3.81% to Rs
155.40), Reliance Infrastructure (down 4.23% to Rs 813.70) and Tata
Power Company (down 0.58% to Rs 981) edged lower.

GAIL (India) (up 1.55% to Rs 408.25), Hero Honda Motor (up 1.39% to
Rs 256), Nestle India (up 0.92% to Rs 1,655) and Lanco Infratech
(up 0.7% to Rs 186.35) edged higher from BSE's A group.

United Breweries (Holdings) (down 16.04% to Rs 195.30), Housing
Development & Infrastructure (down 15.41% to Rs 162.80), Indiabulls
Real Estate (down 14.19% to Rs 158.70) edged lower from the A
group.




Hindustan Unilever (up 2.1% to Rs 257.80) and ITC (up 0.65% to Rs
193.50) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Jaiprakash Associates (down 12.27% to Rs 106.20), DLF (down 8.93%
to Rs 3336.80), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 7.67% to Rs 251.50),
Satyam Computer Services (down 7.11% to Rs 299.15), Tata Motors
(down 5.44% to Rs 352.60), edged lower from the Sensex pack.

India's largest private sector bank in terms of net profit ICICI
Bank slumped 11.27% to Rs 498 on reports the bank has
mark-to-market loss of about Rs 309 crore due to its investment in
instruments of troubled US financial giants - Lehman Brothers and
AIG.

India's fifth-largest software exporter by sales HCL Technologies
fell 10.75% to Rs 190.05. HCL Technologies fell 7.42% to Rs 197.15.
On Friday, 26 September 2008, launched an all-cash offer for
UK-based SAP implementation consultancy Axon. The offer trumped an
earlier bid by Infosys, India's second largest IT services provider
by sales.

HCL's all-cash offer at 650 pence a share is 8.3% higher than the
600-pence offer by Infosys, which has promised a further
announcement 'in due course'. Reports suggest that Infosys is
expected to disclose its future plans on Axon on Monday, 29
September 2008.