The Sensex plunged on Friday on sustained selling pressure due to a raft of bad news on inflation, oil price spike and weak global markets. The Sensex tumbled 619 points to close at 13,802 .

The 50-share closed down by 179 points, or 4 per cent, to 4136.

The markets had opened sharply lower but later in the early afternoon deals it staged a minor recovery before plunging further. The oil prices, which hit a fresh record high of $141.71 a barrel, and inflation, which hit a new 13-year high of 11.42 per cent, weighed heavily on the market sentiment. The weak global markets also added to the bad news.

Selling was evident across the board and all sectoral indices ended in the red.

“The downside is clearly driven by inflation and crude price hike. If the Nifty breaks 4093 level then it may witness more downtrend in the near future,” said Gaurang Shah, Chief Manager, Geojit Financial Services.

Tata Motors was the biggest loser among the BSE-30 scrips. It lost over 8 per cent to close at Rs 449. Other major losers in this group were Housing Development Finance,  Wipro and Reliance Infrastructure.

Asian markets also closed weak on Friday, with South Korea's Kospi, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei ending in the red territory by 1.8 per cent each.

Banking, Realty slide

The BSE Banking index maintained its downturn and closed at 6100, shedding 5.7 per cent or 370 points.  Major losers in the group were Bank of India, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.