India Unitech shares fall 51 pct to 2-½ yr low

MUMBAI Oct 24 (Reuters) - Indian realty firm Unitech Ltd (UNTE.BO) lost more than half its market value on Friday as traders said institutions sold large holdings of shares even after the company denied media reports it had a missed a payment for some land.

Unitech said media reports it had not made a payment to a land authority for land near Delhi were wrong.

"Unitech is currently not in default and was never in default with regards to payments to the authority," it said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

Unitech said all payments had been made on time. It said the land authority had revised the payment schedule because it had not been able to arrange peaceful possession of the land due to protests by local farmers.

Unitech shares ended down 51.3 percent at 30.10 rupees, a 2-½ year low, taking their losses in 2008 to 94 percent.

Larger rival DLF (DLF.BO) fell 24 percent, taking its losses for the year to 81 percent, in a Mumbai market .BSESN that fell 11 percent.

Three brokers said margin calls were probably triggered after large amounts of Unitech shares were sold in late trade.

Unitech was the second most actively traded share on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the third most actively traded on the National Stock Exchange, with a total of 67 million shares, representing four percent of the company's float, traded.

"Our presumption after such a fall is margin calls were triggered," said V.K. Sharma, head of research at Anagram Stock Broking.

Traders said lots of 500,000 shares were put up for sale in afternoon trade, with hedge funds and foreign institutions said to be exiting the stock. Foreign institutions owned 6.9 percent of the firm, according the stock exchange data.

India's property market has turned down in a slowing economy, and developers have found it harder to access cash as the global financial crisis has tightened credit markets.

[ID:nBOM165893] ($1=50 rupees) (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by John Mair and Sharon Lindores)