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Benchmark share indices slumped in noon trades on worries that the pruning of stimulus measures by the US Fed would lead to a sell-off by foreign institutional investors in Indian equities coupled with a weakening rupee.
At 1:12PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 550 points at 18,820 after hitting an intra-day low of 18,817 and the 50-share Nifty was down 177 points at 5,565 after hitting an intra-day low of 5,559.
The Indian rupee was at Rs 61.62. The rupee had slipped to all time low of Rs 62 in early trade amid weak equity markets and despite a slew of measures announced by the central bank on late evening Wednesday aimed at boosting inflows and curbing outflows.
Asian markets remained highly volatile on Friday, with India's rupee hitting a record low, the yuan at an all-time high and shares in China roiled by rumours of government support for the market or even a trading error. Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei and Straits Timese were trading 0.2-0.8% down.
European shares were trading mixed in early trades with CAC marginally up while DAX and FTSE were down 0.1-0.3% each.
All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading lower. Consumer Durables index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 7.3% followed by Bankex, Capital Goods, Metal, Realty, Oil and Gas, PSU, Power and FMCG down 1.7-4.3% each.
Among the financial shares, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and SBI were down 2.7-4.1% each.
Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys, and ITC were down 1.4-2.8% each.
In the capital goods segment, BHEL slumped 7.4% while L&T was down 4%.
Among other shares, Essar Oil was locked in upper circuit for sixth day in a row, up 5% at Rs 63.35 after reporting operating profit of Rs 1,106 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1), due to higher realization. The company had operational loss of Rs 178 crore in the same quarter year ago.
Godrej Properties has surged 11% to Rs 513, in otherwise extremely week market, ahead of its proposed Rs 700 crore rights issue. The Mumbai-based real estate developer has fixed August 20, as record date for the proposed rights issue of the company. The company would issue 8 shares for every 29 shares held by shareholders as on the record date. The issue price has been fixed at Rs 325 per share, which is almost 37% less than the current market rate.
In the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap index was down 1.8% and the Small-cap index was down 1.4%.
Market breadth continued to remain weak with 1,408 losers and 596 gainers on the BSE.
