A plunge in realty stocks following news of the CFO of DLF, Ramesh Sanka, selling his shares extended the loss of the broader markets. Asian stocks are mixed on Friday ahead of a key US jobs report.
The Sensex is down 175 points at 9,411, while Nifty has shed 55 points to trade at 2,864.
Following the DLF news, the stock is down nearly 19 per cent at Rs 190. This also increased the selling pressure in other realty stocks, with the sectoral index down nearly 15 per cent. Orbit Corp, Unitech and HDIL are down between 12 per cent and 15 per cent.
Among the Sensex stocks, Satyam is down nearly 50 per cent. Other major Sensex losers include RCom, Rel Infra and L&T.
Asian stocks were narrowly mixed Friday amid more corporate gloom and worries that a key US jobs report could show recession in the world’s largest economy is deepening.
Trade fluctuated in a number of markets as investors awaited closely watched non-farm payrolls data, due out later in the US, that's expected to show massive job losses — as many as half a million or more — in December as a weakening economy led employers to lay off workers and curb hiring.
Dismal corporate news out of Asia also weighed on investors.
In Japan, electronics component maker TDK Corp. said late Thursday it would cut 8,000 workers and post its biggest net less ever this fiscal year. South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor announced Friday it applied for protection from creditors amid the credit crisis to buy time to restructure, calling the move an "unavoidable choice."
"Basically there's not much direction," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "People still fear the market will go down. All the economic figures show the global economic is in a mess, it's not going to climb out anytime soon."
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average moved in and out of the green, trading 25.90 points lower, or 0.3 per cent, at 8,850.52 by the afternoon. Hong Kong's Hang Send Index, briefly in negative territory, recovered to gain 165.43 points, or 1.2 percent, to 14,581.34, amid what analysts said was speculation about central government aid for the power sector.
In South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.9 per cent as the country's central bank cut its key interest rate for the fifth time in just three months to help shore up the country's sagging economy.
Benchmarks in Taiwan fell, while those in Australia and Singapore gained.
Wall Street closed mixed after lawmakers and Citigroup worked out a deal that could support the battered housing sector by limiting the number of mortgage foreclosures.
Wal-Mart Stores heightened fears that consumers are faring worse than expect as it issues a profit warning and report dismal sales in December.
The Dow ended down 27.24, or 0.31 per cent, at 8,742.46 after being down as much as 119, but broader stock indicators advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.08, or 0.34 per cent.
US futures pointed to modest gains on Wall Street's ahead of the government jobs report. Economists say the report could show the US unemployment rate jumped from 6.7 per cent in November to 7 percent in December, which would be the highest in 15 1/2 years.
Oil prices recovered, with light, sweet crude for February delivery up 79 cents to $42.49 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract overnight fell 93 cents to settle at $41.70.