The 30-share index, BSE Sensex, lost more than 700 points soon after the announcement of credit policy review by the central bank.

Metals, banks and realty stocks were hammered badly.

The central bank kept the Bank Rate unchanged at 6% in its mid-term review of the annual statement on monetary policy for the year 2008-09.

Meanwhile, repo rate was also kept steady at 8%, to judge the impact of a heavy, surprise cut earlier this week to suppress the financial system from the worldwide financial crisis.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex, on Friday, belled the day with a loss of 236.29 points, at 9,535.41 as against its previous day loss of 398.20 points.

At 12.04 p.m., the 30-share index Sensex stood at 9,304.33, down 737.37 points, after hitting a high of 9,570.71 and a low of 9,025.01.

In contrast, the broad based Nifty lost 216.10 points at 2,727.05, after touching a high of 2,936.25 and a low of 2,661.45.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative. Out of the total 2,367 stocks traded at BSE, 304 advanced, 2,012 declined while 51 remained unchanged.

The stocks, which dragged the index down included Sensex.Hindalco Industries (21.14%), Mahindra & Mahindra (14.97%), Tata Steel (14.13%), Sterlite Industries (India) (13.62%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (13.02%), and Ranbaxy Laboratories (12.63%).

There were no gainers at the 30-share index.