The benchmark index suffered a big selloff on Tuesday, amid bearish sentiment across the globe as investors remained circumspect about the direction of the market. Asian stock markets were mostly lower while European markets had fallen over 1 per cent or more in early trade. The Sensex slumped 491 points to 15,404, while while Nifty plunged 147 points to 4,563. ”As the rupee is depreciating against the dollar, some FIIs seem to be offloading their equity portfolios so that they can buy later when the currency is more in their favour,” said Deven Choksey, MD, K R Choksey Securities. All the sectoral indices on the BSE were lower with the realty index down over 9 per cent. The metal index fell 6 per cent while oil & gas was off over 4 per cent. Among the Sensex stocks, Hindalco plunged over 10 per cent to be the biggest percentage loser. DLF slumped 9 per cent while JP Asso fell 7.5 per cent. Sensex heavyweight RIL had lost over 5.7 per cent. Global equities have rallied sharply since March, when investor appetite for riskier assets grew in an environment of low interest rates. But after the sharp rally since March and rate hikes by some central banks, investors have turned circumspect. Asian markets, which tumbled the day before on a fall in US consumer spending, got little relief from news that American manufacturing grew at its fastest pace last month since April 2006. Investors were nervous that a report on US unemployment due on Friday will confirm that job losses continue to swell, suggesting an anemic economic recovery. Tuesday's interest rate hike in Australia failed to inspire the same jubilation among investors as last month’s. The October rate increase, the first in a major economy since the onset of the crisis, was greeted as evidence of an improving world economy. Hong Kong's Hang Seng led Asia's losses, falling 1.7 per cent while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.6 per cent. Japan's market was closed for a holiday.