The stock market bled heavily as investors on Friday hammered banking, realty and oil and gas stocks, pushing the benchmark Sensex down by about 1,100 points to 8,701.07 points.

The markets which opened weak had a free fall soon after the Reserve Bank unveiled its mid-term review of the annual credit policy, without any changes in key policy rates.

The 1,071-points plunge in Sensex today is the steepest in any single trading session after a 1408 (rpt) 1,408 points drop on January 21, this year and has pushed the index to its lowest in about three years despite the continuing pep talk from Finance Minister P Chidambaram and host of measures by RBI to prop up the markets.

Realty sector stocks suffered the worst, with the group as a whole shaving off nearly a quarter of its wealth, followed by oil and gas, banks and metal stocks.

With all the blue chips ending in red, realty giant Unitech suffered erosion of more than half of its market capitalisation with its shares plunging by Rs 31.75 to settle at Rs 61.80.

According to BSE data, there was only one gainer in A-group shares and that too a public sector entity -- Container Corporation that recorded a meagre 45 paise increase to close at Rs 706.55.

The downhill journey caused by investor skepticism was rushed further by the global meltdown and more so by the plunge witnessed in east Asian bourses this morning. Over 350 companies plunged to their lowest levels.

The key index touched the day's low of 8,556.82 as funds remained aggressive sellers influenced by a weakening global trend.

... contd.