Panic selling continues: Sensex, Nifty down nearly 3%

The markets opened weak in the morning ,following a surprise hike in the short-term repo rate and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after trading hours on Friday (30 March). The RBI move comes at a time, when there uncertainty already prevailed about the market’s direction.

The markets are trading under pressure on the back of panic selling being witnessed across the sectors since morning.At 11.40 pm the sensex is trading at 12679,392 points down,while Nifty is trading 121 points down at 3699.

Maruti Udyog (MUL) dropped 5.77% to Rs 772.40, State Bank of India (SBI) fell 5.62% to Rs 937.10, Tata Motors eased 5.44% to Rs 688.15, and Bajaj Auto was down 4.92% to Rs 2306.Infosys (down 1.32%), Tata Steel (down 1.51%), TCS (down 1.53%) and Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 1.0.69%) were the other losers.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 1.43% to Rs 1348, on a volume of 72,044 shares. Reliance Industries and Gujarat State Petronet have signed a gas transportation agreement to transport 11 MSMCMD of natural gas from Bhadbhut in Bharuch, to the company's refinery and petrochemical complex in Jamnagar. The agreement, valid for 15 years, has an option to increase the volumes of gas up to 14 MSCMD. The transportation of gas will commence in the second quarter of 2008.