Frantic selling by funds drove the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share benchmark index -- the Sensex -- down by over 536 points at noon on Friday, with all the index kitty stocks plunging into red led by metal and capital good segments.

The Sensex traded lower by 536.19 points at 15,240.12 at noon with most heavy-weight stocks plunging to recent lows. Similarly, the second wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 173.10 points at 4446.70.

Selling by foreign and domestic funds sparked by report of a major plunge in global stock markets such as Nasdaq, Dow Jones Industrial, Nikkei and Hang Seng.

Marketmen said a major fall in the Nasdaq index, a Mecca of information technology stocks, sparked selling in the Asian stock exchanges.

STEEP SLIDES...
Date	Cls	Prv Cls	Chg	% Chg
18-May-06	11391.43	12217.81	-826.38	-6.76
02-Apr-06	12455.37	13072.10	-616.73	-4.72
17-May-04	4505.16	5069.87	-564.71	-11.14
28-Feb-07	12938.09	13478.8	-540.74	-4.01
27-Jul-07	15244*	15776.31	532*	-3.77*
05-Mar-07	12415.04	12886.1	-471.09	-3.66
15-May-06	11822.20	12285.11	-462.91	-3.77
08-Jun-06	9295.81	9756.76	-460.95	-4.72
22-May-06	10481.77	10938.6	-456.84	-4.18
14-Mar-07	12529.62	12982.98	-453.36	-3.49
19-May-06	10938.61	11391.43	-452.82	-3.98
13-Jun-06	9062.65	9476.15	-413.5	-4.36
12-Dec-06	12995.02	13399.4	-404.41	-3.02
11-Dec-06	13399.43	13799.5	-400.06	-2.90
*As of 1245 hrs

The Nasdaq index lost 48.83 points at 2,599.34, while the second largest US stock index Dow Jones Industrial dropped 311.50 points at 13,473.57. It earlier lost 450 points during the intra-day.

The market observers said the indices fell the most in three months on concern a worsening US housing downturn might curb growth in the world's biggest economy. 

"The fall is good for a healthy market as it would help in consolidating after the one way rise to records," said NSE broker Rajiv Malik.

The index is poised for its biggest decline since April 27 as 29 of the 30 stocks were in the red. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard and Poor's 500 Index fell the most since February, while the UK's FTSE 100's biggest drop in four years led declines across Europe.

The fall was led by technology major Infosys Technologies [Get Quote], which dropped Rs 48.15 or 2.4 per cent to stand at Rs 1,986.80. Reliance Industries Ltd [Get Quote], the nation's most valued company, fell Rs 26 or 1.3 per cent to Rs 1,915. The two stocks account for about a quarter of the BSE index's weight.