Weak global markets trigger a 860-pt fall on Sensex

Mumbai, May 18 (UNI) The BSE Sensex crashed by over 860 points to 11,356 points this afternoon at round 1500 hrs due to weaker global markets as compared to the last close of 12,218 points.

This was the biggest absolute fall on the Sensex in its entire history.

Sensex traded 801 points down at 11,416 points around 1520 hrs.

Earlier in the morning too the Sensex had fallen by 599.73 points to a low of 11,618 points around 1125 hrs.

Markets recovered partly in the afternoon but then again started slipping by 1430 hrs.

Foreign Institutional Investors(FIIs) seem to have sold out in big volumes, said a BSE broker.

The big fall of over four per cent in the benchmark index was on the back of losses in the global markets led by lower closing of the US and the Japanese markets on concerns of rising interest rates and inflation.

The New York Stock Exchange(NYSE) Composite index fell by 2.24 per cent, Nasdaq fell by 1.50 per cent, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.88 per cent and Japanese Nikkei fell by 1.30 per cent.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty Index too fell over 256 points and was trading at 3379 points around 1515 hrs.

Tata Steel which announced its results today afternoon was down by more than 10 per cent.

All the Sensex stocks were deep in red and all the sectoral indices were in the red too.

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