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Ripples of US strike against Iraq hit BSE; Sensex crashes 72 points, down to 2864.44

Shares crashed further in the late afternoon sessions on India's premier stock market, the Bombay Stock Exchange, following fresh selling by foreign financial institutions. Necessary buying support also eluded the bourse.

Leading brokers said reports that the US had conducted military strike against Iraq dampened the market's sentiments. However, some of them said there is no panic as such.

FIIs sold MNC shares, infotech stock and other blue chips. This pulled the Sensex down.

Opening down at 2884, the 30-share index crashed to close at 2864.44 down 72 points over Wednesday's close.

On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty closed down 20 points at 830.25, down 21.3 points. Most counters lost ground while Zee Telefilms was up, reportedly on speculative buying. Castrol was shored up by financial institutions.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the Indian rupee closed at Rs 42.54 against the US dollar, down one paisa. State Bank of India entered the market late in the afternoon and resorted to considerable dollar selling, helping the rupee to recover after early losses in the morning due to volatile trading.

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