Indian equities crashed during the early trading hours as credit crisis deteriorated, which sent the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty down by 9.5% and 9% to 10,239.76 and 3198.95 respectively.

Today, the 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened negatively at 10,632.27 after losing 696.09 points. In the previous day session, the Sensex closed with a loss of 366.88 points.

Asian stocks tumbled, forcing Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average down on worry that the deepening credit disaster will push the worldwide financial system into depression.

Stocks across the board were shattered this morning.

At 10.14 a.m., the 30-share index Sensex lost 822.90 points at 10,505.46, after hitting a high of 10,632.27 and a low of 10,239.76.

In contrast, the broad based Nifty stood at 3,365.95, down 147.70 points, after touching a high of 3,502.05 and a low of 3,198.95. 

The total market breadth was weak. Out of 1599 stocks traded on the BSE, 1366 declined sharply, 210 stocks recorded slight gains and 23 stocks remained unchanged.

There were no gainers at the 30-share index.

The major losers in the Sensex were ICICI Bank (12.26%), Tata Steel (11.27%), Satyam Computer Services (10.09%), Reliance Communications (9.58%), HDFC Bank (9.46%) and Reliance Energy (9.14%).