Rekindling fears of fresh eurozonedebt crisis after Mediterranean country Cyprus planned to taxbank deposits as a part of soverign bailout weighed on theglobal markets, sending the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex todaydown by over 134 points to end at 1-1/2-week low of 19,293.20.
Last weekend, cash-strapped Cyprus got nearly a USD 13billion rescue package from international lenders but plannedto impose a one-time levy on the money held in island's bankaccounts as a part of a sovereign bailout, which created anuncertainty in the global financial markets.
Shares from metal, PSU, auto, realty and refinery sectorssuffered the most while defensive stocks from FMCG and pharmasegments attracted good buying support in an otherwise dullmarket.
Interest rates sensitive counters were at the receivingend ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policymeet tomorrow. Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said thatthere is a case for the RBI to cut policy rates, and thecentral bank should take comfort from the government's effortsto cut the fiscal deficit.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumedsharply lower and moved in a narrow range in negative terrainthroughout the day to settle at 19,293.20, revealing a fall of134.36 points or 0.69 pct. Last Friday, it had slumped by142.88 points or 0.73 pct.
The NSE 50-issue CNX Nifty also dropped by 37.35 pointsor 0.64 pct to more-than one-week low of 5,835.25.