Equity Alert: Nifty at new 2008 low, down 2%; ONGC falls 6%

[K.Karthik Raja]

Equity Alert: Nifty at new 2008 low, down 2%; ONGC falls 6%
MUMBAI--12:45PM--Nifty touched a fresh 2008 low of 4395.55
intraday on
heavy selling in index heavyweights such as Oil & Natural Gas Corp.
Weak open in key European markets also hit sentiment, dealers
said. Key
European markets were down nearly 1% each.
Share indices were trading at eight-month lows, with Nifty at
4418.80,
down 83.45 points, or 1.8%. Sensex was at 14799.40, down 262.11
points, or
1.7%.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp, down 6%, was the worst hit on Nifty.
Infosys
Technologies fell 5%, ITC and ICICI Bank were down 3% each.
Select pharmaceutical shares, index heavyweights Reliance
Industries and
Hindustan Unilever, both up around 0.4%, were rare Nifty gainers.
Ranbaxy rose 5%, while Sun Pharmaceutical and Cipla were up 2%
each.