Sensex crashed over 500 points

Sensex crashed over 500 points to 16,533 as the Indian rupee slumped below 49 per dollar with global sell-off adding fuel to the fire. The 50-share NSE Niftyalso tumbled 161 points to 4,972.

The Indian rupee slipped to 49.08 per dollar, down 0.76 or 1.57% from yesterday's closing value, signalling huge outflow of money from India. Huge fresh shorts were seen in the market; Nifty 5000 put shed more than 20 lakh shares in open interest.

European markets too fell further; France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE plunged 4% each.

On the home turf, the broader indices too were following the same trend; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost more than 2%.

Among sectors, the BSE Realty, Metal, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Bank and Auto indices were down 3-4%. Power, IT, FMCG and Healthare dropped 2-2.7%.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel crashed 5% each.

At 13:42 hours IST : Sensex drops over 450 pts; Re nears 49/$, Europe dips 3-4%

Further fall in European markets and a sharp crack in major sectors has made the Indian equity benchmarks even weaker. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 469 points to 16,595 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 140 points to 4,992. A continuously depreciating rupee may be signaling offloading of exposure from foreign institutional investors.

Federal Reserve's statement spooked all global markets. European markets extended fall; France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 3-4%. The Dow Jones Futures dropped over 1%.