Indian shares' fall a real heart-stopper

NEW DELHI - At least five investors in Ahmedabad have been treated for cardiac problems since the dramatic fall in the sharemarkets in the past few days, the Asian Age reports.

Media pundits have joined the action, saying share investing should come with a Surgeon-General's warning.

The trouble started last week with an 11 per cent decline on the Mumbai stock exchange's sensitive index, followed by a 14 per cent fall on the first three days of this week, including a 10 per cent plunge in two hours on Monday that led to a 60-minute trading halt. However, the index has recovered almost 4 per cent and India's Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram is urging genuine investors to stay with the markets, saying calm is returning.

"The system stood the test of volatility and the markets were able to complete settlement of funds and securities smoothly," he said.

He attributed a rise in share prices in the past two years to the "sound Indian growth story" and capital market reforms.

With the unwinding of the "yen carry trade", or borrowing cheap Japanese money to buy stocks, bonds and commodities around the world, it does not look like the wild gyrations in Indian stocks will go away in a hurry.

Analysts in India are blaming rich valuations for the fall.

The Government said the losses had occurred because traders with long positions sold shares to meet margin calls. The Indian economy, Asia's third largest, has expanded at an average of 8 per cent annually for the past three years.

Foreign investors have put a net US$3.5 billion ($5.6 billion) in Indian stocks so far this year after a record US$10.7 billion in 2005 and the main index hit a record high on May 11.

Chidambaram said the fall in Indian shares was due to various factors such as a decline in metal prices and equity markets around the world.

"The fall got exacerbated on Monday presumably on the inability of some traders who were highly leveraged, to meet margin calls within time," he said.

- REUTERS, BLOOMBERG