After Wall Street bloodbath, Sensex plunges over 1,000 points

The Sensex nosedived 1,179.82 points today to reach33,577.34 on global cues, at one point it fell over 1,200 points to 33,482.

The Nifty fell 294.50 points to 10,372.05, a fall of 2.76 per cent.

Strong selling pressure dragged down all the Sensex and the Nifty components.

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Tata Motors, India Bulls Housing Finance, Axis Bank and Hindalco were the biggest losers in the opening trade.

The rupee also fell to 64.38 against US dollar, asagainst Monday's close of 64.06, a fall of about 32 paisa.

In the biggest fall in its history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 1,600 points over fears of elevated US Treasury bond yields -- at four-year highs -- and the likelihood of fresh Federal Reserve interest rate hikes as the US economy strengthens.

Asian stocks also plunged today because of the record-breaking loss on Wall Street. Tokyo led the collapse throughout the region in early trade, diving more than five per cent. Hong Kong was down almost four per cent at one point,Sydney 3 per cent, Singapore 2.3 per cent, Seoul 3 per cent, Taipei 3.7 per cent, and Shanghai 2.1 per cent.

Media reports quoted market observers as saying that besides negative global cues, heavy selling pressure in banking, capital goods, auto and oil and gas stocks, pulled the stocks lower.

The Sensex fell for the sixth day in a row, yesterday because of global cues and fears that the Reserve Bank of India would turn more hawkish at its policy meeting later this week.The index had lost 1,526 points in the previous five sessions after its remarkable over 2,200-point gain in January month.

Prior to that, shares slumped because the markets weren't too happy with the budget because ofthe imposition of long-term capital gains of 10 per cent on equities.The sensex fell over 800 points on Friday and over 300 points on Monday.

(With inputs from agencies)