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Markets volatile: Sensex crashes 100 points to 4444, Nifty at 1325, rupee-$ 43.38

The Bombay Stock Exchange continued its downtrend of Thursday on Friday morning. Early deals saw the benchmark index, the 30-share Sensitive Index or Sensex, dropping to sub-4500 level.

At 1500 hours IST, the index was at 4450, down almost 220 points or 5.12 per cent from Thursday's close of 4594.

Foreign institutional investors and operators continued to sell as today marks the last trading session of the weekly settlement. The market is also awaiting the announcement of the Credit and Monetary Policy by the Reserve Bank of India in a short while from now.

The market declined after a steady opening. Bulls were reported to be unwinding their long positions. Pivotals were reported weak barring Novartis whose Q2 earnings impressed the market. The share was up almost three per cent. HLL and ITC were steady, but IDBI hit the lower limit of the circuit-breaker. SBI and ICICI are passing through a weak trend. So are the infotech stocks like Infosys and NIIT.

The Sensex ended at 4444, down 150 points or 2.17 per cent.

At the National Stock Exchange, the S&P CNX Nifty was at 1295, down 70 points or 5.12 per cent from Thursday's close of 1365. However, it recovered some of the lost ground towards the end, and closed at 1325, down 40 points or 2.93 points.

At the inter-bank foreign exchange market, the Indian rupee ended firmer compared to its previous close, shrugging off early lows, after exporters sold dollars, dealers said. The rupee ended at 43.37/38 per dollar against the previous close of 43.3875/3925..

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