A benchmark index of Indian equities markets plunged 517.97 points or 1.98 percent Tuesday after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government presented its maiden Railway Budget.
All sectoral indices closed in the red taking the benchmark index to one of its lowest levels in the past 10 months.
Heavy selling pressure was seen in capital goods, metal, consumer durables, oil and gas, auto, banking, realty, IT and healthcare sectors.
The index of Indian equities markets hit a new high of 26,190.44 points during the morning session.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,166.92 points, closed at 25,582.11 points, down 517.97 points or 1.98 percent from the previous day’s close at 26,100.08 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,190.44 points and a low of 25,495.04 points intra-day.
The S&P BSE capital goods index plunged by 803.49 points, metal index plummeted by 567.17 points, consumer durbales index slid by 414.12 points, oil and gas index dropped by 350.89 points, bankex went down by 413.67 points, realty index slipped by 150.04 points.
Power index went down by 152.63 points, auto index was down by 367.98 points, healthcare index lost 144.19 points and IT index slipped by 100.37 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at 163.95 points or 2.11 percent down at 7,623.20 points.
The major Sensex gainers were: Sun Pharma, up 0.69 percent at Rs.724.80 and HDFC, up 0.48 percent Rs.1,022.40.
The losers were: BHEL, down 8.16 percent at Rs.243.15; NTPC, down 5.36 percent at Rs.152.75; Tata Power, down 5.04 percent at Rs.105.45, Coal India, down 4.96 percent at Rs.376.85 and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 4.35 percent at Rs.1,673.45.
Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.42 percent down and Hong Kong’s Heng Seng closed 0.04 percent lower, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.20 percent higher.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.54 percent down, French CAC 40 Index was down by 0.39 percent and so was Germany’s DAX Index lower by 0.39 percent down at the closing bell here.
(IANS)