ICICI Bank crashes by 21%; Tata Motors hits year’s low

Fears that the US administration may nationalise troubled banks – Citi and Bank of America – triggered fresh selling in the stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 6.17 per cent, its lowest levels since October 2002 while the tech-rich Nasdaq composite fell 6.07 per cent to 1,441.23 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 tumbled 6.87 per cent to 770.05.
Weak global cues and insipid interim Budget affected the mood at Dalal Street. The BSE Sensex plummeted by 8.22 per cent and the NSE S&P CNX Nifty slumped 7.19 per cent, as foreign institutional investors resumed their selling on Indian bourses.
Amid global ruin, Indian ADRs also buckled. Among the worst affected was ICICI Bank, whose ADR tumbled by 21.1 per cent at $13.78 ($17.46). Weak sentiment towards financial sector across the globe seemed to have affected the sentiment for the counter. The other banking major, HDFC Bank, too fell by 10.3 per cent at $54.27 ($60.5).
Despite State Bank of India announcing flat interest rate of auto buyers, Tata Motors crashed by 14.4 per cent at $3.33 (3.89). It, in fact, registered its year low of $3.25 on Friday.
The other counters that registered their 52-week lows were Rediff.com and MTNL.
While MTNL witnessed a fall of 12.5 per cent at $2.6 ($2.97), Tata Communications slumped 15.5 per cent at $15.34 ($18.15).
Infotech majors also witnessed sharp falls. Wipro declined by 8.9 per cent at $6.17 ($6.77), Infosys Technologies slipped by 8.4 per cent at $24.16 ($26.38).
Scam-hit IT firm Satyam Computer last week got Company Law Board permission to induct one or more strategic investors through a public auction and raise funds by preferential allotment of shares. According to reports, the board of Satyam is likely to announce the details of the process of inviting strategic partners by the end of this week. However, the ADR tumbled by over 10 per cent to end at $1.71 ($1.91).