Sensex, rupee fall sharply over tapering worries

Indian stock markets fell today in line with other global markets after the US Federal Reserve's October meeting hinted at stimulus tapering.

The Sensex fell as much as 240 points when it touched 20,394.30. The rupee too fell in line with weak equities and a rebound of dollar against other currencies. The rupee fell to 62.93 but later recovered on suspected dollar sales by the RBI.

At 10 am, the Sensex was down 195 points at 20,439 while Nifty was off 62 points at 6,060.

Asian stocks stumbled and the dollar gained today after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's October meeting hinted at stimulus tapering, while the euro was pressured by speculation of more easing by the European Central Bank.

Prashastha Seth, senior VP at IIFL Wealth Management, said Indian markets are going to remain choppy over tapering concerns.

Asian stocks dropped on talk of the Fed's stimulus withdrawal, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index both shedding about 0.3 percent.

Federal Reserve officials indicated at the bank's October 29-30 policy meeting that they could decide to start scaling back the asset purchases at one of its next few meetings provided this was warranted by economic growth.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, last stood at 81.032 after climbed 0.4 percent on Wednesday in its biggest one-day gain in about two weeks.

The euro was slightly lower at $1.3435, and was also buying 143.40 yen, well off a four-year high of 135.94 yen touched on Wednesday.  (With Reuters inputs)