Satyam megascam sends markets tumbling

MUMBAI - Indian equities markets, which had rallied last week and the first two days of trading this week, took a beating since Wednesday after the Satyam fraud blew up, dampening investor confidence and pushing a key index to close Friday 5.54 percent lower over last week’s close.

The fall from grace of B. Ramalinga Raju, co-founder and chairman of one of India’s biggest IT firms, left more than a mark on the capital markets as the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) hit an intra-week low of 9,250.82 points soon after news of the scam broke out.

Sensex closed at 9,406.47 points Friday losing about 5.54 percent or 551.75 points over its Jan 2 close of 9,958.22 points.

‘This is what I would call capital market terrorism and it has cast a doubt on other biggies in corporate India. The fundamentals of value buying itself have been corrupted with suspicion now on the supposed checks and balances of the system,’ said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of the capital markets arm and director of India’s fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.

Like the Sensex, the broader-based 50-share S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) hit an intra-week high of 3,147 points before closing shop Friday at 2,873 points, about 173 points lower than its Jan 2 close.

The Satyam scrip was pounded as soon as Raju’s admission was made public; the stock lost 86.57 percent in two days of trading Wednesday and Friday. The market was closed Thursday on account of Moharram.

At close of trade Friday, Satyam lost Rs.153.70 to end at Rs.23.85 down from last week’s close of Rs.177.55.

The BSE midcap index ended the week at 3,120.79 points, down 270.39 points from its previous weekly close of 3,391.18.

The BSE smallcap index finished the week at 3,555.6 points, 321.9 points lower the previous weekly close of 3,870.5.

The Sensex finished Monday at 10,275.6 points, 317.38 points or 3.19 percent higher from its previous close.

Nifty performed similarly with a rise of 2.45 percent to close at 3,121.45 points.

Tuesday saw the Sensex recover from a midday slide to close marginally higher than Monday but the Nifty failed to do so, closing at 3,112.8 points, down 0.28 percent.

The Sensex ended trade was at 10,3335.93 points, up 0.59 percent or 60.33 points, over Monday’s close of 10,275.6 points.

Wednesday was when Satyam’s Raju publicly admitted to a fraud over several years that ran into almost Rs.70 billion (Rs.7,000 crore or $1.43 billion).

The Sensex nosedived 7.25 percent or 749.05 points to shut shop at 9,586.88 points after opening higher than Tuesday’s close.

Nifty took a beating as well, ending trade at 2,920.4 points, 6.18 percent lower.

When the market reopened Friday, the Sensex dropped further, falling 1.88 percent or 180.41 points to close at 9,406.47 points.

Nifty fared no better and fell 1.62 percent to close at 2,873.4 points.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of $45.5 million during the week.

‘FIIs would start doubting the authenticity of financial statements of Indian corporates and will think twice before investing in our companies,’ added Thunuguntla.