All domestic indices traded on the lower side while the key benchmarks – Sensex and Nifty – nose-dived 7.60% and 6.54%, respectively following the Satyam fiasco. The company’s chairman Ramalinga Raju tendered his resignation this morning after confessing to frauds and overstating the company’s accounts for several years. Understandably all sectoral gauges were in the red, with IT, realty and technology badly hammered in trades. This apart, the negative opening of the European markets added to the gloom.

In a letter to the stock exchanges and investors, Raju stated that the September 2008 quarter profits of Rs 61 crore were actually overstated as Rs 649 crore, a fictitious cash balance of Rs 5040 crore, the list of manipulation seems endless. Raju also admitted about the last failed attempt of concealing frauds in the Maytas Infra buy out.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which opened on the higher side at 10,424.96, plunged 786.24 points or 7.61% at 9,549.69. The index touched a high of 10,469.72 and a low of 9,510.15, intra-day.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty was trading at 2909.35, down 203.45 points or 6.54% from its previous close. The index touched a high of 3147.20 and a low of 2888.20, so far.

The market breadth also crashed at this point in time. The BSE reported 2084 declines against 342 advances while 53 stocks were unmoved. The Nifty saw 46 declines versus 4 declines.

The BSE Mid-cap index plunged 7.95% while the BSE Mid-cap index slumped 6.69%.

ITeS solutions provider 3i Infotech, which announced a strategic partnership with ICICI Lombard, Airtel and Max New York Life to offer a comprehensive range of services to rural consumers under the I-SERV brand, was trading in the red following the market slump. The stock was down 9.48% or 3.85 points at Rs 36.75 per share on the BSE.

MSP Steel was another stock trading in the negative zone on selling pressure. The stock tanked 5.87% and was trading at Rs 17.65 per share on the BSE.

MSP Steel and Power has received the approval from the ministry of mines for prospecting license to the company for having its iron ore mines over an area of 150.00 hectare of Durgkondal Forest Rang in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.

The license authorizes the company to have its own iron ore mines for manufacturing operations. The company will become cost competitive compared to other steel manufacturers with its own coal blocks and iron ore mines.

There were only two gainers on the Sensex – Hindustan Unilever up 1.26% and Infosys Technologies up 1.06%.

Satyam was the top dragger of the index down 80.51%, followed by Jaiprakash Associates down 28.01%, Reliance Communications down 18.02%, DLF down 15.12% and ICICI Bank down 10.54%.

The Nifty toppers were HUL up 1.09%, Infosys up 0.98%, Sun Pharma up 0.83% and Maruti Suzuki up 0.12%.

Satyam was the biggest loser on the Nifty down 81%. Other top losers were Unitech down 23.29%, Suzlon down 23.25%, Reliance Communications down 17.87% and HCL Technologies down 15.82%.

European indices were seen lower in opening trades. UK’s FTSE 100 shed 0.80%, DAX of Germany declined 0.77% and CAC of France was down 0.80%.

Asian markets were also experiencing a bad day. Shanghai Composite was down 0.68%, Hang Seng declined 3.37% and Straits Times lost 1.27%.

Whereas, Nikkei 225 advanced 1.74%, Seoul Composite rose 2.84% and Taiwan Weighted was up 1.32%.

OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas exporter monopoly, halted all natural gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine today, as a dispute over pricing escalated. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other yesterday as deliveries through Ukraine to the Balkans halted. The spat, which shut off fuel shipments to Europe for the first time in three years, caused UK gas to jump as much as 27% yesterday and came amid freezing temperatures across Europe.