ET
 
Mumbai, Feb 28: Stocks languished in the negative terrain after dismal GDP data weighed on sentiment. Also, the Indian rupee plunged to an all-time low adding to its woes.

The rupee was trading at 50.87/88 against the greenback on continued capital outflows and higher month-end dollar demand, besides a strong US dollar in the overseas market.

Meanwhile, country’s economy grew 5.3% in the December quarter from a year earlier, slowing sharply from the previous quarter's 7.6% as the global economic crisis slashed demand and exports.

Investors dumped shares across the board but selling was more pronounced in realty, oil & gas and technology counters.

At 1 pm, National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 2724.05, down 61.6 points or 2.21%. The index fell to an intra-day low of 2710.25 from a high of 2787.20 in trade so far.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 8,773.22, down 181.64 points or 2.03%. It touched a low of 8,728.72 and a high of 8944.11.

Secondline stocks were relatively less affected. BSE Midcap Index was down 0.61 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index was down 0.39%.

Mahindra & Mahindra (-4.99%), ACC (-4.76%), Reliance Infrastructure (-4.75%), Wipro (-4.14%), Maruti Suzuki (-4.06%) and Sterlite Industries (-3.95%) were the worst hit in the Sensex pack.

HDFC, up 3.04%, was the lone gainer in the 30-share index.

Market breadth remained negative with 1330 declines against 740 advances.