From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 04:40 PM IST

Indian equity markets slumped Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of India raised the repo rate by 50 basis points at its monetary policy announced late in the morning. Capital goods, realty and banking stocks were under heavy selling pressure.

At 12:45 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex, was down by 527.36 points or 3.68 percent at 13,821.75. It had earlier touched a low of 13,808.92.

At the same time the broader based S and amp;P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was down by 155.40 points at 4,176.70.

The market breadth was negative. On BSE, 812 shares advanced, 1,529 declined and 67 remained unchanged.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)