Sensex loses 511 points

MAIN street may be ecstatic at Barack Obama’s victory in the US Presidential race, but Wall Street and European markets don’t see any reason to cheer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq were down nearly 2% in early trade while key European markets fell 2-3%, as investors appear more worried about a global slowdown. Back home, a 13% decline in Reliance Industries pushed down equity benchmarks by over 5%, causing India to underperform its Asian peers.
The BSE 30-share Sensex snapped a five-day winning streak to end with a 511-point, or 4.8%, loss at 10,120. The index had rallied more than 2,000 points in the past five consecutive sessions. The NSE Nifty closed 147 points, or 4.7%, down at 2,995 on Wednesday.
The weak sentiment in India was attributed to many factors. There are fears that outsourcing from the US to India may be affected after Obama is elected as the US president. The newly-elected president is apparently against outsourcing, going by his statements in his election speeches. However, IT stocks were among the better-performing sectors. Oil and gas stocks bore the brunt of Wednesday’s sell-off as the BSE Oil & Gas index tanked 637 points, or 9.4%, to 6,112.