Thursday, October 13, 2005

Metal stocks weigh down sensex to 3-week low

Tracking a weak global trend, the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex today nose-dived by 163.66 points to touch a three-week low as foregign funds off-loaded part of their holdings.
The 30-share Sensitive Index fell 163.66 points at 8,376.90, the lowest since September 23 and the second wide-based National Stock Exchange lost 52.25 points at 2,537.30. Nifty futures for October delivery slid 56.10 points at 253.

Marketmen said the change in the trend was noticed on the back of reports that a possible rise in inflation rate tomorrow.

They said India's inflation rate might possibly accelerate to a two-month high after the government raised fuel prices, increasing the cost of transporting farm and factory goods.

The market experienced a crash like situation at the fag-end with most of the metal stocks melting fast, pulling the metal segment index down by 233.84 at 6,246.55 followed by the bank index by 106.88 points at 4,807.61.

The market was on a down-path after drugmaker Ranbaxy Lab lost a legal challenge that would have otherwise allowed it to sell a generic version of the world's best-selling drug in the overseas markets.

The High Court in London on Wednesday rejected Ranbaxy's challenge on Pfizer Inc.'s patent on Lipitor, in a setback to the Indian company's plans to release a generic version of the cholesterol treating medicine.

Ranbaxy is pursuing a US legal challenge on the drug, which had global sales of almost 11 billion dollar in 2004 and almost 21 per cent of US-based Pfizer's annual revenue.

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