Investor sentiment was dampened after the June quarter GDP grew below estimates at 7 per cent and core sector growth slipped to a three-month low of 1.1 per cent in July.
Moreover, fresh worries about China's economic slowdown reignited after its manufacturing sector contracted at the fastest pace in three years as well as weak growth data from euro zone and also sluggish Japanese industrial output which had fallen beyond expectations, rattling finacials markets across Asia.
The broader 50-share index opened with a gap-down at 7,907.95 and plummeted sharply to hit a low of 7,746.50 before closing at 7,785.85, showing a massive loss of 185.45 points, 2.33 per cent.
The PSU Bank indices suffered the most, sliding by 4.43 pct, followed by Bankex (3.59 pct), Metal (3.40 pct), Realty (3.32 pct), Infra (2.77 pct), Auto (2.56 pct), Media (2.86 pct), Energy 1.75 (pct), FMCG (1.74 pct), Pharma (1.56 pct) and Technology (1.11 pct).
Mid-cap and Small-cap, too fell sharply by 2.08 and 2.44 per cent, respectively.
Major losers were HDFC Bank, ITC, Axis Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, Reliance, SBI, Tata Motors, IDEA, M&M, TCS, Lupin, Maruti, Asian Paints, Indusind Bank, HCL-Tech, Bank of Baroda, ZEE, ONGC, Bharti Artel, Infosys, Cipla, Yes Bank, PNB, Bhel, Coal India and Tata Steel. However, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and Ambuja Cements, withstood the crash.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 17,646.52 crore against Rs 22,109.78 crore yesterday.
A total of 7,622.23 lakh shares changed hands in 8,297,651 trades and the total market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 9,331,406 crore.
