Sensex tumbles 226 points

The benchmark Sens*x tumbled nearly 226 points to its lowest level in a month on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday with funds selling amid worries over the drought in the country and weakening global trends. 

Erasing initial moderate gains, the Sens*x dropped to the day's low of 14,684.45, before ending with a loss of 225.62 points at 14,809.64. It touched the day's high of 15,096.94.

In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shuffled in a wide range of 4,477.55 to 4,353.45 before ending lower by 64.80 points at 4,394.10.

Selling pressure was up after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said farm output may decline because of the weak monsoon.

The bearish trends were strengthened on reports of shares falling in China and the rest of Asia, and Europe on growing fears that the five-month rally on the bourses worldwide is waning because of doubts on the possibility of a global economic recovery.

European stocks fell one per cent in early trade while US stock futures were down 0.9 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei lost 0.79 per cent, Hong Kong's Heng Seng 1.73 per cent and Singapore's Straits Tiís 1.75 per cent.

Marketmen said in Shanghai shares slumped five per cent before settling at 4.3 per cent lower, taking their losses to around 20 per cent in just two weeks qualifying to be defined as a bear market.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said rice production may decline 10 million tonnes this year as a result of drought in 626 districts.

Among the 30 Sens*x stocks, only three closed with gains while all the sectoral indices ended with hefty losses.

Oil and gas suffered the most, losing 2.68 per cent to 9,259.60, followed by metals, which was down 2.33 per cent to 11,929.02.

The auto sector fell 2.14 per cent to 5,277.76, power 1.93 per cent to 2,812.57, and the public sector index 1.88 per cent to 8,048.22.