Due to heavy selling across the board, the Sensex tanked to 19655.42 a little while ago, losing more than 500 points.
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The Nifty too is down by over 150 points at 5894.65.
Amid fears of a hike in interest rates - a section of investors feel an announcement from RBI is not far off - and extreme caution ahead of quarterly results from India Inc, investors are seen hitting the sell button on the trader workstations this afternoon.
Stocks cutting across sectors are feeling the heat, and those from automobile, metal, realty and consumer durables sectors are among the worst hit.
Bank stocks, which staged a strong comeback earlier this afternoon, have declined sharply once again due to fresh selling.
