Markets crash, Sensex plunges 453 pts

New Delhi: Markets have witnessed a free fall as selling pressure gathered momentum in pre-close trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday.

With heavy selling seen in scrips across sectors, the benchmark Sensex went down by over 453 points.

Brisk offering at index-heavy counters led by bank and auto stocks magnified the decline.

After remaining in a negative territory for the last three sessions, the Sensex tumbled further by 453.23 points, or over 3 per cent at 13,568.08 at 1515 hrs.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 121.80 points at 3,918.20.

Nifty March Futures Add 46 Lakh Shares In Open Interest.

BSE Bankex Down 3.5 per cent; HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank Down 4.5 per cent each.

BSE Healthcare Index Down 3 per cent; DRL Down 6 per cent, Ranbaxy Down 3%.

NSE Advance-Decline Ratio was 1:12.

Cement Stocks: Grasim Down 6.5 per cent, ACC Down 5.5 per cent, Guj Ambuja Down 4.5 per cent.

Recent listings: Redington Down 14 per cent, Cinemax Down 13 per cent, Pochiraju Down 11 per cent.

Index heavyweight Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 188.75 down 1.74 per cent from its previous close of Rs 192.10.

Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 1,424.10 up 0.73 per cent from its previous close of Rs 1,413.80.

Tech major Infosys was trading at Rs 2,256.00 down 1.43 per cent from its previous close of Rs 2,288.70.

Cigarette major ITC was trading at Rs 168.20 down 3.36 per cent from its previous close of Rs 174.05.

Refinery major HPCL was trading at Rs 279.00 down 2.91 per cent from its previous close of Rs 287.35.