Sensex crashes 642 points

Sensex crashed by 642 points, highest in years as fear of all-out war looms large in Gulf which has already in the edge following the Yemeni backed militant attack on Saudi Refineries

Equity markets came under heavy selling pressure on Tuesdayon fears that a spike in crude oil prices following attacks on Saudi oilfacilities could hurt the economy further.

India's current account and fiscal deficit could take a hit if oil prices continue to rise after the attack, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said on Monday.

The S&P BSE Sensex plunged 642 points or 1.73 percent to end at 36,481.09, with Hero MotoCorp (down over 6 percent) being the worst performer and HUL (up 1 percent) the biggest gainer. Out of 30 constituents, 27 ended in the red, and just 3 closed in the positive territory.

During the session, the 30-share index hit a high and low of37,169.56 and 36,419.09, respectively. HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank,Reliance Industries (RIL), and SBI emerged as the top contributors to theindex's fall. On the flip side, Infosys, HUL, and Asian Paints gave themuch-needed support.

On NSE, the frontline index Nifty50 lost 186 points or 1.69 percent to end at 10,818. Nifty Bank bled 723 points or 2.60 percent to end at 27,132. Sectorally, all the indices on the NSE ended in the red. Auto stocks slipped the most, followed by realty and PSU bank scrips. The Nifty Auto index lost around 4 percent to settle at 7,020.75 levels.