Wednesday, May 31 2006 13:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Under acute selling pressure, stock market continued to decline right from this morning and plunged by over 600 points during the first two trading hours as if in sympathy with global meltdown.

The BSE index lost 601.03 points at 10,185.60 at 1145 hrs while the National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 195.25 points to 2,990.05.

Trading sentiment was affected after foreign funds off-loaded heavily in global markets, amid reports that these funds were withdrawing more than five billion dollar from the emerging markets.

Overnight meltdown in base-metal prices in the London Metal Exchange further fuelled selling in metal shares across the board.

Shares in almost all the segments dipped to fresh lows as retail investors resorted to panic selling.