UPDATE AT 11.30 AM ON 15 SEPTEMBER
Key benchmark indices witnessed a disastrous opening spooked
byreports that the Bank of America struck a $50 billion deal to
buyUS's investment banking major Merrill Lynch. The BSE
30-shareSensex was down 643.32 points. Meanwhile, reports just
filtered inthat US investment bank Lehman Brothers is filing for Chapter
11bankruptcy. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) plunged to
52-week lowbelow Rs 1900. IT pivotals were the worst hit in the early
slide,with Satyam Computer Services plunging over 10%. All the
30-membersfrom the Sensex pack suffered losses. Asian markets
were trading lower today, 15 September 2008. Keybenchmark indices
in Taiwan and Singapore fell 4.32% and 3.18%.Most major Asian equity
markets were closed for public holidays.