Sensex ends 344 points down; markets see highest turnover ever

The Sensex witnessed huge selling pressure in the second half of trade on the back of sell-off across all the sectors and unwinding of positions in leading sectors. It closed below the psychological 17,000 mark while the Nifty closed just above the 5,000 level. The experts were expecting the Nifty closing around 5,100 level on the expiry day.

The markets as well as F&O segment a part of it, both recorded highest ever turnover on the last day of November series. The markets reported total turnover of Rs 1,59,224.71 crore. This included Rs 17,605.67 crore from the NSE cash segment, Rs 1,37,130.38 crore from the NSE F&O and the balance Rs 4,488.66 crore from the BSE cash segment.

Reliance Industries went ex-bonus today, as it bonus issue was one equity share for one share held. The stock closed 3% lower. It has fixed November 27, 2009 as the record date.

Fall in global markets also weighed on the Indian equities; European markets were down 2% each and US index futures fell over 1%, at the time of writing this report. Shares of banking and mining companies saw huge sell-off in these markets.

Asian markets also closed lower, which slipped further in the last couple of hours. China's Shanghai bleed the most, down 3.6% on concern that banks will have to raise more capital to meet swelling loan demand which dragged financial companies lower.

According to Reuters, investors fled the market amid mounting worries that the government may take steps to clamp down on surging asset prices. "Concerns over a clampdown on asset prices, including stocks and property, have altered the trend of uninterrupted rises seen from early September until early this week, which was spurred by the strong economic recovery and corporate earnings," said a senior trader at a major Chinese brokerage.