Indian markets plummeted over 1.8 per cent at the end of the session on Thursday owing to weak global cues after the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday signalled an end to its bond-buying programme.

Bernanke's statement effectively means putting an end to its stimulus programme, as the situation seems to be improving.

Global markets also took a severe beating as China's manufacturing output unexpectedly contracted.

Domestic markets were rattled despite Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said that participants should read the situation correctly rather than being influenced by external developments.

Chidambaram said that Bernanke has clearly indicated that he will continue with quantitative easing in the foreseeable future, about $85 billion a month or so.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 371.86 points (1.85 per cent) at 19,690.38 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 121.25 points (1.99 per cent) at 5,973.25.

All BSE sectoral indices ended in the red.

Among them, realty and capital goods indices fell the most with realty index down by 5.84 per cent and capital goods 4.87 per cent, followed by power 3.56 per cent and banking 2.71 per cent.

Among 30-share Sensex, Sun Pharma and HDFC were the only three gainers, while the top five losers were SBI (down 7.96 per cent), L&T (-6.49 per cent), Jindal Steel (-4.05 per cent), RIL (-3.99 per cent) and NTPC (-3.88 per cent).

In the Asian trade, Japan’s Nikkei 225 plummeted 1,143.28 points or 7.32 per cent to 14,483.98 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 582.65 points or 2.5 per cent to 22,678.43.

In the European markets, Stoxx 50 fell 66.96 points or 2.36 per cent to 2,768.05,FTSE 100 shed 134.25 points or 1.96 per cent to 6,706.02 and DAX plunged 228.91 points or 2.68 per cent to 8,301.98.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 540.18 crore yesterday, as per BSE provisional data.

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