July 20, 2007: US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warns that the US sub-prime crisis could cost up to $100 billion.
The Sensex continued with its march and ended up 167 points at 15,732 on July 23.
July 27, 2007: Worries about the sub-prime crisis hammered global stock markets and the main US Dow Jones stock index slipped.
The Sensex was no exception as it ended down 542 points on that day.
July 31, 2007: Bear Stearns stopped clients from withdrawing cash from a third fund, saying it has been overwhelmed by redemption requests. The lender also filed for bankruptcy protection for the two funds it had to bail out earlier.
Next day, that is, August 1, the Sensex ended with a hefty loss of 645 points at 14,936. The NSE Nifty ended at 4,346, down 183 points. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumped 730 points to 22,455. Japan's Nikkei plunged 378 points to 16,871. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted index crashed 395 points to 8892, and China's Shanghai Composite index shed 170 points at 4,301.
August 6, 2007: American Home Mortgage, one of the largest US independent home loan providers, filed for bankruptcy after laying off the majority of its staff.
And Sensex ended down 235 points on that day and on August 7 it gained 30 points at close.
August 9, 2007
French banking major, BNP Paribas announced that it could not fairly value the underlying assets in three funds -- Parvest Dynamic ABS, BNP Paribas ABS Euribor and BNP Paribas ABS Eonia -- as a result of exposure to US subprime mortgage lending markets.
Faced with potentially massive exposure, the European Central Bank immediately stepped in to ease market worries by opening lines of euro 96.8 billion (then $130 billion) in low-interest credit. The Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Japan also intervened.
On August 10, 2007, the Sensex marginally shrugged off the US subprime woes and closed with a loss of 232 points at 14,868.
Image: BNP Paribas headquarters in Paris | Photograph: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Why Lehman Bros went bust; what it means for you
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