Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex Tuesday tanked 447 points on panic selling by funds mirroring weak world markets, which were spooked by reports of a bank failure in Spain.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped below 16,000 level for the first time in more than 10 months, but closed at 16,022.48 with almost all the index-linked stocks in the red.
The market barometer touched the day's low of 15,960.15.
All Asian markets tumbled around four per cent and European stocks opened lower by 3-5 per cent on reports that Spain's central bank came to the rescue of commercial bank CajaSur, compounding worries that a debt crisis in the Eurozone may shatter the fragile global economic recovery.
Failure of financial institutions was at the heart of the 2008 global crisis.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty too dropped by 137.20 points to 4,806.75.
The benchmark lost 11 per cent from its peak on April 7, rolled down to touch a level last seen on February 11, as investros failed to regain confidence amid ongoing global economic crisis.
Besides the steep fall in metal stocks, shares for exprt-oriented such as software and automobile were major losers as the Indian rupee remained volatile against the leading currencies.
Infosys Technologies fell by 2.44 percent to Rs 2,533.30, Tata Consultancy Services by 2.67 percent to Rs 698.75, Wipro by 2.18 percent to Rs 633.80, Financial Technologies by 5.37 percent to Rs 1,238.25 and HCL Tech by 4.27 percent to Rs 354.20.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 16:36