For the week ended Mar 6, 2009, the 30 share index, Sensex lost 565.79 points (6.36%) to settle at 8,325.82, while the broad based NSE Nifty sank 143.5 points (5.19%) at 2,620.15 during the same period.

During the week, mid-cap stocks declined 171.99 points at 2,586.30. The small-cap shares dropped 194.28 points (6.25%) at 2,911.73.

The easing inflation, which dropped by 33 basis points to 3.03%, and administration’s stimulus of cut in interest rate by 50 basis points failed to boost investor reaction in the markets.

Moreover, the export figures during February 2009 fell to $13.04 billion, whereas imports dropped by 18.1% to $17.02 billion, reducing the trade deficit to $4 billion as against $5.69 billion during the same period last year.

The main events from the Corporate Corner that took place during the week:

During the week, Reliance Industries merged with its arm Reliance Petroleum at a 1:16 ratio. Following this, the company’s shares slipped more than 7% in the week at Rs 1170.55.

ICICI Bank shares fell 17.92% in the week following CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets reported that the bank`s Russian division ICICI Bank Eurasia may confront some mark to market losses and NPLs (non-performing loans) on its assets in Russia.  

In the week, shares of Satyam Computer Services gained more than 19% on Friday (March 6) following the company’s declaration of receiving authorization from SEBI to facilitate a global competitive bidding process, subject to receipt of all approvals, contemplates.

Among sectoral indices, the major losers included BSE Bankex (11.86%), FMCG (9.26%), Power (6.54%), Capital Goods (5.71%), Oil & Gas (5.61%), and Realty (4.70%) among major losers in the sectoral indices over the week.

There were no major sectoral gainers in the 30-share index during the week.

The top gainers in 30-share index in the Sensex over the week were Jaiprakash Associates (5.46%), Wipro (2.82%), Grasim Industries (2.34%), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.26%), and Sterlite Industries (India) (2.06%) over the week.

On the other hand, the biggest losers were Reliance Capital (17.12%), ICICI Bank (17.92%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (12.67%), Tata Power Company (12.03%), and Hindustan Unilever (11.76%).

Asian stocks also marked their closure depressingly following renewed concern that losses at financial institutions will go up as the worldwide slump deepens.

Japanese benchmark index Nikkei lost 260.39 points at 7,173.10, whereas Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index dropped 289.72 points to 11,921.52.

European markets saw mixed trading trend. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 9.76 points at 3,539.62. French benchmark index CAC 40 lost 18.38 points to 2,551.25, while Germany`s benchmark index DAX grew 14.43 points to 3,681.06.