Equities opened gap down on Thursday following a 25 basis point repo rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India and weakness in global markets on account of rising crude oil prices. At 10:05 am, Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex was at 14,781.37, down 403 points or 2.66 per cent. National Stock Exchanges Nifty was at 4,408, down 114.85 points or 2.54 per cent.

HDFC (down 7.14%), DLF (5.46%), HDFC Bank (4.44%), ICICI Bank (3.73%), Jaiprakash Associates (3.47%) and BHEL (3.34%) were amongst the major losers on the Sensex. Mahindra&Mahindra (up 0.39%) was the only gainer in the 30-share index.

Asian markets were under pressure following a sell-off in the US market overnight. The Nikkei 225 was down 2.14 per cent, the Hang Seng fell 2.49 per cent and the Straits Times declined 2.14 per cent. US stocks ended lower Wednesday on fears that rising crude oil prices will put pressure on inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.68 per cent lower and Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.24 per cent.

Crude is back with a bang, on the basis of lower inventories and the central banks the world over are becoming hawkish, preferring to fight inflation instead of allowing the frail economies to recover. The markets worst fears of a slow economic growth and rising inflation is now becoming a reality. More importantly, the bulls who had just dipped their toes yesterday in the market, will be badly bruised in todays action. Technically, we could test the lows formed earlier this week, said Anagram Stock Broking.