Sensex down 434 points, closes at 3-month low

Mumbai: The Sensex plunged to a three-month closing low after fresh fears over global economic recovery impacted markets around the globe. World stocks fell as growing European debt and a rise in U.S. unemployment claims added to fears that the global economy could slip back into recession.

The Sensex plunged 434 points to end at 15,790 while Nifty fell 126 points at 4,718. The Sensex last ended lower than today's figures on 3 November 2009 when it closed at 15,404 points. The chart showing the 52 week performance of Sensex is on the left.

Markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul dropped about three percent or more after Wall Street was hurt by data showing U.S. unemployment claims rose last week. Shaky government finances in several European countries also dented buying appetite. European markets posted smaller losses in early trading Friday after suffering big falls the day before.

The selling pressure in the Indian markets was broad-based with all sectoral indices on the BSE ending lower. The realty and metal indices dropped at least 4.2 percent each, followed by over three percent fall in the banking, oil and gas and PSU indices.

Among the Sensex stocks, just one stock, Tata Power, was spared from the selling pressure. It closed marginally in the green. Hindalco fell 5.5 percent to be the biggest loser among the Sensex components. M&M, JP Associates, Tata Steel and ONGC ended fell nearly four percent.