Markets crash as DMK quits UPA

Indian equities crashed Tuesday morning, minutes after the DMK quit the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the Sri Lankan issue.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher Tuesday at 19,345.91 points against the last close at 19,293.20 points. But soon after the news of the pullout, it crashed to 18,939.47 points, an intra-day fall of over 400 points.

The key index saw some volatile movement and was quoting at 19,066.25 points before noon, with a loss of 226.95 points, or 1.18 percent, over the previous day's close.

The DMK has 18 members in the Lok Sabha and five of its MPs are ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's council of Ministers. The party wants a resolution adopted in parliament declaring there was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is under attack over the death of a large number of Tamil civilians during the final stages of the war that crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.