MARKET UPDATE AT 2 PM, AUGUST 21, 2008
Key benchmark indices continued downward jouney in afternoon tradewith Sensex falling close to 350 points at the day's low. Ratesensitive banking stocks fell ahead of the weekly inflation data tobe released by the government after the trading hours today, 21August 2008. European markets, which opened after Indian markets,slipped in early trade. FMCG, healthcare, auto and metal stocks were down. State Bank ofIndia fell more than 5%. NTPC was down close to 5% and HDFC Bankfell more than 4%. Weak Asian markets also weighed on thesentiment. Chinese market declined after yesterday's steep rise. European markets which opened after Indian market were red.France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were down between1% to 1.36%. At 13:21 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 340.48 points or2.31% to 14,339.41. At the day's low of 14,336.76, the Sensex lost341.47 in afternoon trade. At day's high of 14,646.98, the indexlost 31.25 points in early trade. The S&P CNX Nifty was down 107.1 points or 2.43% to 4,308.65. The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.35% to 5,747.49 and the BSESmall-Cap index was down 1.17% at 6,983.67.