The benchmark Sensex crashed nearly 541 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday on emergence of selling by foreign as well as domestic funds, triggered by weak global trend. 

Sensex, which had been rapidly moving up in last few trading session, suffered the most in almost four months after concern that a worsening US housing downturn will curb growth in the world’s biggest economy prompted investors to shun equities. Sensex shed 541.74 points, or 3.43 pc to 15,234.57, after touching an intra-day low of 15,159.68. This is the fourth biggest fall ever for the index and biggest since April 2, 2007.  27 of the 30 stocks on the bourse were in red. The National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 174.60 points, or 3.78 pc to 4,445.20, after touching a high of 4618.90. 

In the US, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P’s 500 Index fell the most since February, while the FTSE 100’s biggest drop in four years led declines across Europe. 

Ripples of the global trend was felt in the Asian  stock markets seeing hefty losses.