The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday plunged below the 13k level and lost nearly 705 points in early trading on massive selling by funds, sparked by deepening global financial crisis after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 1,685 points in the last seven sessions, moved down by 704.76 points or 5.31 per cent to 12,558.14, the lowest since July 16, after all the sectoral indices dropped between 2 to 8 per cent with realty, metals and capital goods suffering the most.
Similarly, the National Stock Exchange's index Nifty breached the 3,800 mark and was quoted at 3,799.55, down by 208.70 points.
Stock brokers said sliding global markets on concern that more companies could succumb to the financial crisis that has already claimed Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch badly dampened the trading sentiments here.
They said sentiments on the global bourses were so weak that even bailing out of insurance giant AIG by the US Federal Reserve failed to quell concerns about the financial crisis.
All the BSE-30 stocks were in the negative territory with steep losses, dragging the Sensex down.
{{/usCountry}}All the BSE-30 stocks were in the negative territory with steep losses, dragging the Sensex down.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, US DJIA closed 4.06 per cent down, UK's FTSE moved down by 2.25 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei lost 3.54 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index plunged 6.70 per cent in early trade.