JOIN USMarkets across the world plunged heavily after minutes of US Federal Reserve's last meeting were made public late Wednesday signalling that the US stimulus programme may end sooner than expected, depending on economic conditions.
Consequently, key benchmark indices in D-Street slumped on Thursday, with both the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty hitting their lowest levels in more than a week. The Sensex fell 406.08 points, or 1.97 per cent to 20,229.05 points, while the Nifty plunged 123.85 points, or 2.02 per cent to close at 5,999.05 points.
Banks were hit very hard, with BSE Bankex falling 2.5 per cent followed by Capital Goods and Realty & Power.
IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and Sesa Sterlite plunged 4 per cent each, while the country's premier lender State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank lost 2 per cent each. However, HDFC and PNB were down 3.6 per cent each. In the capital goods segment, ITC and L&T dropped nearly 3 per cent.