Indian stock market takes a dive

MUMBAI, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- India's main stock exchange took a big hit Monday on investor dismay over a poor debut by Reliance Power despite a spectacular January initial public offering.

The 30-stock Sensex index in Mumbai also posted its third highest point loss on rising global recession fears and concerns over their impact on corporate earnings and the country's economic boom of recent years.

The Sensex closed nearly 834 points or 4.78 percent down to 16,630.91, its lowest for the year, but up from its intraday low of 16,457.74.

Shares of Reliance Power, led by Anil Ambani of the billionaire Ambani family of Mumbai, fell 17 percent from its issue price of nearly 372.50 rupees (about $9.30). At the initial public offering last month, Reliance Power shares sold out in seconds, raising about $3 billion and making it the country's largest ever IPO.

The company plans to build several power plants in the next decade to meet India's explosive energy demand.

"In case of Reliance Power, the valuations were running ahead of the company's fundamentals. It was a steeply valued stock," the Press Trust of India quoted an analyst as saying.

India's smaller National Stock Exchange's Nifty index also fell sharply, losing about 263 points to close at 4,857.