The Reserve Bank cut repo rate by 25 bps for second time this year in a bid to revive economic growth, but it left the cash reserve ratio unchanged.
The rate cut was, however, overshadowed by political development in the form of DMK's decision to pull out of UPA Government, fuelling fears about instability at the Centre.
Trading began on a positive note after overnight slide following low-level buying and better global cues ahead of the RBI policy meet.
But political developments at the Centre, which came close on heels of RBI policy announcement, triggered across the board selling with market players concerned over the fate of Government's recent burst of reforms.
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Calm was partly restored after the Finance Minister said there was no threat to the Manmohan Singh Government though the statement was not enough to stem losses.
The 50-share Nifty tumbled to low of 5,724.30 before concluding at 5,745.95, a sharp fall of 89.30 points, or 1.53 per cent, from the last close. The index hit a high of 5,863.60 in the morning trade.
Amid frantic selling, Bhel plunged 5 per cent, Bharti Airtel 4.39 per cent, DLF 4.09 per cent, Reliance Infra 3.91 per cent, Sesa Goa 3.77 per cent, Jindal Steel 3.59 per cent, Cairn 3.45 per cent, ONGC 3.32 per cent, JP Associates 3.24 per cent and PNB 3.13 lost per cent.
Turnover in the cash segment jumped to Rs 13,232.69 crore from Rs 8,588.77 crore yesterday. A total of 7,369.57 lakh shares changed hands in 59,35,793 trades. Total market capitalisation stood at Rs 63,48,858 crore.