Mumbai, Wednesday, October 08, 2008: With mounting fears that the global economic downturn is here to stay, Indian stock markets crashed on Wednesday at open.

Both the key indices Sensex and Nifty crashed by over 4.5 percent after overseas markets plunged and as concerns grew foreign funds would hasten their withdrawal. The massive sell off is attributed to the ever-increasing fears of a looming global recession.

By 10.09 am, the 30-share Sensex was down 5.10 percent, or 596.41 points, at 11,098.83 after opening 3.2 percent lower. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 4.7 percent to 3,434.10.