Another dreadful week ended diving stock markets down all over the world

Stocks

oi-Monika Nihalani

By Monika Nihalani

Published: Saturday, August 20, 2011, 15:59 [IST]

Fears about the another recession in the United States and worries about the Europe's debt crisis are unceasingly getting intensified among the global investors. There were few signs of hope that this global sell-off will pause after starting out on Monday, stock indices recovered a bit after a massive sell-off which occurred due to US downgrade, but by midweek, stock market investors ended up experiencing another grotesque week diving prices down all over the world as worries about the global economy re-emerged.

India's benchmark stock index Sensex sank to 15-month low by 328.12 points to 16,141.67 at the 3:30 p.m. in Mumbai, its lowest since May 25, 2010. The S&P CNX Nifty Index dropped 2% to 4,845.65 and its August futures settled at 4,850.

India's stock exchange is facing losing streak due to lot of panic selling on the back of global fears. Another reason behind sell-off is quarterly earnings of the Indian companies which did not meet analysts forecasts on account of high borrowing costs due to high inflation in the country.

Foreign investors sold $1.3 billion of Indian equities this month as higher borrowing costs weighed on companies" net income.

Earnings of 46% of Sensex companies missed analyst estimates in the three months ended June, according to Bloomberg data.

Other markets in Asia also experienced losses. The Nikkei 225 index in Japan lost 2.51%, and the major market indexes in Singapore and Hong Kong closed down more than 3%.

After sharp sell-off in Asia and Europe on Friday, same sentiment then carried over into the United States as well.

At the close, the S.& P. 500 was down 17.12 points, or 1.5%, at 1,123.53. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 172.93 points, or 1.57%, to 10,817.65. The Nasdaq composite index lost 38.59 points, or 1.62%, to 2,341.84.

For the week, the S.& P. was down 4.6%, the Dow lost 4% and the Nasdaq fell 6.6%. The steepest declines were on Thursday, when the indexes slipped more than 3% on unrelenting worries about the economy and Europe"s debt problems.

The only assets shined during the week were gold and silver, which did not fail to lure investors around the world. Precious metals have the ability to grab lot of attention during the time of uncertainties which led to gold and silver prices touched another new skies.

Gold closed at Rs 26,915 per 10 grams and was up by Rs 845, while silver closed at Rs 63,800 per kg and was up by Rs 2,255.

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