Markets feel the Dubai heat

 The Sensex is now quoting at 16,236, down 618 points and the Nifty is at 4,866, lower by 139 points.

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(Updated at 1153 am)

The markets tumbled after Dubai's government-owned investment company Dubai World asked for a restructuring of its debt amounting to $59 billion (£35bn). The company was hit hard by the global credit crunch and recession.

The Sensex is quoting at 16,349, weaker by 505 points, and the Nifty is at 4,866, down 139 points, with realty, metals and banking stocks taking a hard knock.

The major Sensex losers are DLF (weaker by 5.4% at Rs 334), L&T (shed 4.2% at Rs 1,562), Jaiprakash Associates (down 4% at Rs 212), Maruti (lower by 3.8% at Rs 1,518) and ICICI Bank.

There are no gainers on the Sensex.

The market breath is weak. Out of 2,379 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 369 advancing stocks as against 1,952 declines.

HDIL topped the value charts with a turnover of Rs 67.44 crore. This was followed by Suzlon at Rs 63.56 crore, Tata Steel at Rs 61.79 crore, ICICI Bank at Rs 57.80 crore and SBI at Rs 49.18 crore.

IFCI led the volumes charts, clocking total trades of 12.12 million shares, followed by Suzlon at 9.08 million shares, Unitech at 6.74 million shares, Tata Steel at 4.63 million shares and Ispat at 4.30 million shares.