The markets, on Thursday, witnessed the second biggest single day fall of 717 points in the history of benchmark index Sensex, which closed at 17,998.39.

The biggest ever fall of 826 points was witnessed on May 18 last year. It was due to heavy selling by FIIs, retail investors and a weakness in global markets. The Sensex closed at 11,391, points then. Thursday’s fall comes after largest ever intraday fall of 1,743 points on Wednesday, but the index was able to receive most of the losses and closed with 300 points in the negative.

Securities scam

Besides, other falls in the 10 biggest ones include 570 points (12.77 per cent) on April 28 1992 to close at 3,870, following Harshad Mehta securities scam coming to light. Prior to this, Sensex had plunged 565 points to close at 4,505 points on May 17, 2004. It had fallen by 463 points on May 15, 2006, followed by 457 points on May 22 and 453 points on May 19 last year. While other three falls of 361 points, 334 points and 330 points were witnessed on April 4, 2000, May 12, 1992 and May 14, 2004.

On the other hand, among other sector indices on the Bombay Stock Exchange, the biggest fall for the day was witnessed by the metal index, which plunged 689.98 points to close at 15,719.80 followed by Capital Goods which ended down 684.05 points at 16,824 points. The BSE Bankex lost 573 points to close at 9,607.61 points and realty index down  448.18 points at 9831.12.