The US markets suffered a sharp plunge on Thursday, extending losses for the second day in a row with the major indices taking their hardest single-day hit in five weeks, amid widespread selling of stocks and commodities on escalated fears about the global economy. Investors’ reaction to the Federal Reserve’s statement late Wednesday continued. The central bank warned of risks to the economic outlook and unveiled a bond-swap program, seen as something that would have minimal sway in revitalizing growth. Also, HSBC’s preliminary China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to a two-month low in September, signaling a broad slowdown in China’s economy.
Though, US equities remained lower despite a Conference Board report that showed the index of US leading indicators increased more than forecast in August, pointing to a faster pace of growth heading into next year. Also the applications for jobless benefits fell 9,000 in the week ended September 17 to 423,000, the Labor Department stated.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 391.01 points, or 3.51 percent, to 10,733.80. The Standard and Poor’s 500 closed lower by 37.20 points, or 3.19 percent, to 1,129.56, while the Nasdaq composite lost 82.52 points, or 3.25 percent, to 2,455.67.
The Indian ADRs closed in red on Thursday, ICICI Bank was down by 2.60%, HDFC Bank was down by 2.13%, Infosys Technologies was down by 1.99%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 1.59% and Tata Motors was down by 1.37%.
Source: www.indothai.co.in
Indo Thai Securities Ltd 