Belying hopes of a surge that would have taken it past the magical figure of 19,000 owing to good fundamentals, the stock market on Friday plunged by close to 400 points under influence of Asian markets and profit booking by speculators.

Overlooking the drop in inflation as also the impressive industrial performance, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) came down by 395.03 points to close the day at at 18,419.04, a development many analysts described as “technical correction” of the overheated market. The BSE 30-share Sensex, however, hit a new intra-trade record at 18,844.62 during the initial trading. The Sensex had gained 1,322.68 points or 7.56 per cent in the last three days.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also touched a new peak of 5,549.30 but later ended at 5,428.25, a net fall of 96.60 points or 1.75 per cent from previous close of 5,524.85. The downward correction was driven by across-the-board selling by domestic institutional investors. Domestic funds and bears turned aggressive and dominated the market.