Sensex down 231 points in opening trade

The 30-share index, which gained 40.20 points in Tuesday's volatile session, slumped 231.11 points, or 1.36 per cent at 16,644.65 points.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday tanked over 231 points in opening trade as funds sold heavily in line with the meltdown in overseas markets.

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The 30-share index, which gained 40.20 points in yesterday's volatile session, slumped 231.11 points, or 1.36 per cent at 16,644.65 points.

All the sectoral indices, led by metals and banking, were trading in the negative zone with losses up to 1.53 per cent.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell below 5,000-points level to trade 70.80 points, or 1.39 per cent down at 4,995.40.

Stock brokers said heavy selling by funds and retailers following a steep fall in the US and Asian bourses after Germany's moves to tighten financial regulation, was mainly responsible for the downfall in the market.

Sterlite Industries fell by 2.61 per cent to Rs 670, Tata Steel by 1.77 per cent to Rs 522.05, Reliance Industries by 0.86 per cent to Rs 1,011.90, Infosys Technologies by 0.19 per cent to Rs 2,618 and SBI by 0.49 per cent to Rs 2,265.

Meanwhile, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.08 per cent lower in yesterday's trade, while Japan's Nikkei shed 1.57 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down almost 1.1 per cent in the morning trade today.