market update

MARKET UPDATE AT 2PM, AUGUST 21,2008.

Key benchmark indices continued downward jouney

afternoon tradewith Sensex falling close to 350 points at

the day's low. Ratesensitive banking stocks fell ahead of

the weekly inflation data tobe released by the government

after the trading hours today, 21August 2008. European

markets, which opened after Indian markets,slipped in

early trade. FMCG, healthcare, auto and metal stocks

were down. State Bank ofIndia fell more than 5%.

NTPC was down close to 5% and HDFC Bank fell more

than 4%. Weak Asian markets also weighed on the

sentiment. Chinese market declined after yesterday's

steep rise. European markets which opened after Indian

market were red.France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and

UK's FTSE 100 were down between1% to 1.36%. At 13:21

IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 340.48 points or

2.31% to 14,339.41. At the day's low of 14,336.76, the

Sensex lost341.47 in afternoon trade. At day's high of

14,646.98, the indexlost 31.25 points in early trade. The

S&P CNX Nifty was down 107.1 points or 2.43% to 4,308.65.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.35% to 5,747.49 and

the BSESmall-Cap index was down 1.17% at 6,983.67.