Sensex slumps to 2-year low, ends 365 pts lower

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmarkSensex ended 365 points lower on on Wednesday, as investors squared positionsahead of the monthly settlement in derivative contracts amid heavy fundoutflows and weak global markets.

The Sensex had gained 119 points on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, it fell 365.45 points to 15,699.97 - a levelseen on November 3, 2009. It had touched a low of 15,478.69 before the partialrecovery. Before Tuesday's gain , the market had lost nearly 10 per cent ineight straight sessions.

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The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty tumbled105.90 to 4,706.45, after touching 4,640.95.

Brokers said investors sold heavily while clearing pendingpositions ahead of Thursday's settlement in this month's derivative contractsand weak cues from Asian and European equities markets.

IT, industrial and financial stocks led the slide on weakglobal trend as the US economy expanded at a rate below market expectationsduring the third quarter, they added.

The overall market fall was cushioned somewhat as shares oftelecom operator RCom and real estate firms DB Realty and Unitech recoveredafter the Supreme Court granted bail to their executives in the 2G spectrumcase.