Markets crash 461 points

Sensex ended 461 points lower at 25,603 while Nifty settled at 7,847, down 132 point on Thursday, tracking weak global markets after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly chose not to expand its monetary stimulus. Analysts warned that Indian markets appeared to be cooling down after a rally that has sent the broader NSE index up more than 10 per cent since the start of March.

Both indexes posted their biggest daily percentage falls since April 5, when investors booked profits after the Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates by 25 basis points, as widely expected. Barring realty, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. Among them, the oil & gas index fell the most by 2.18 per cent, metal 2.16 per cent, power 2.01 per cent and infrastructure 2 per cent, while the realty index was up 1.68 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei fell more than 3 per cent after the country's central bank defied market expectations by holding off from expanding its monetary stimulus, even as soft global demand, an unwelcome rise in the yen and weak consumption threatened to derail a fragile economic recovery. The Bank of Japan held off on expanding monetary stimulus on Thursday, defying market expectations for action even as soft global demand, an unwelcome yen rise and weak consumption threatened to derail a fragile economic recovery. The yen soared against the dollar and euro after the announcement, as investors unwound bets that the central bank will loosen monetary policy again.