Markets today

The BSE Sensex is in correction mode as it tanked another 453 points on the back of a whopping 846 point debacle yesterday. The correction on the second consecutive day came about on acute selling pressure as skeptic investors rushed to book profit at every new high.

The sentiment was worsened by a flurry of negative news, which confounded the situation further. Marketmen also attribute today's sharp slump to margin selling.
The Sensex ended 452.82 points (3.98%) lower, at 10,938.61.
The S&P CNX Nifty slipped 142 points (4.19%) to 3,246.90.

The Indian government said late on Wednesday that it planned guidelines that would help distinguish between investors and stock traders, so as to tax them differently. That raised concerns regarding foreign funds being taxed at a much higher rate than those prevailing now.
A clarification from the Finance Minister P Chidambaram that no FIIs have been assessed as traders came as a whiff of fresh air for the benchmark index that was gasping for breath.
It opened with an upward gap of 159 points, surged to hit a high of 11,697.11, as buying continued. However, minutes after hitting the high, it tanked lower. It had plunged to a low of 10,799.01 in the last session of trade as investors became obsessed with selling. The benchmark index wavered 898 points for the day, indicating a high degree of volatility.

The market breadth was strongly bearish on BSE. Only 344 shares advanced, compared to 2,138 that declined. A meagre 33 remained unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5,036 crore, which is lower than Thursday’s turnover of Rs 4,863 crore. Among the Sensex pack, 28 were battered while only 2 received a boost.