Markets saw sharp correction in last half an hour of trade and ended with huge gap down led by sell off in oil, realty, capital goods, banking, metal, technology and select power stocks. Inflation concerns kept markets nervous in second half of session. CNBC-TV18 poll suggests that Inflation is likely to be around 12.79% for the week ended August 16 as against 12.63% in previous week but majority of experts believe that it may cross 13% mark.

Frontline indices had opened flat and traded marginally weak with choppiness on the back of F&O expiry but inflation concerns started dragging markets lower in second half of session. Even in last half an hour of trade, Sensex and Nifty have moved just near to their pshychological levels of 14000 and 4200, respectively but indices did not break those levels.

The Nifty closed at 4214, down 78.1 points or 1.82% after hitting an intraday low of 4201.85. Sensex ended with a loss of 248.45 points or 1.74% at 14,048.34. It has touched a low of 14,002.43.

Biggest contributors in the fall of indices were Reliance Industries, Reliance Communication, BHEL, TCS, L&T, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Reliance Petroleum, ONGC and DLF.

In the August series of F&O, Nifty lost 2.7% and Sensex fell 2.1%. Top gainers were ABB, HDFC Bank and Maruti Suzuki, which went up by 11.5%, 11% and 9.5%, respectively. Amongst losers, Reliance Communication tumbled 23%, Hindalco -15% and Tata Communication -13%.

Rate sensitives, infrastructure, oil and metal stocks have witnessed huge selling pressure. Amongst frontliners, NALCO crashed by 5.79%, BPCL -4.76%, Hindalco -4.57%, Tata Comm -4.51%, Dr Reddys Labs -3.87%, Reliance Industries -3.45%, Reliance Infra -3.15%, BHEL -3.12% and TCS -3.05%.

However, Cairn India have gained 2.23%, Suzlon Energy 1.91%, Hero Honda 1.45%, Maruti Suzuki 0.51%, Ranbaxy Labs 0.51%, Tata Power 0.44% and Satyam 0.44%.

Oil & Gas Index underperformed other indices, fell 247.81 points or 2.57% at 9,407.79. Aban Offshore, Essar Oil, BPCL, HPCL, Reliance Industries, GAIL and Reliance Petroleum slipped 2-5%.

Capital Goods stocks like Lakshmi Machine, Alstom Projects, Kirloskar Brothers, Praj Industries, Thermax, BHEL and L&T tumbled 3-4%. Index lost 262.37 points or 2.23% at 11,492.50.

Metal Index ended with a loss of 224.79 points or 1.85% at 11,925.15 due to selling in NALCO, Hindalco, Welspun Guj, JindalStainless, Ispat Industries, SAIL, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel, which fell 1.5-6%.

Bankex plunged by 119.04 points or 1.77% to 6,596.41 as selling was seen in IndusInd Bank, IOB, Yes Bank, Andhra Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Allahabad Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank.

Realty stocks like HDIL, Anant Raj Ind, Sobha Developers, Ansal Properties, DLF and Unitech have slipped 2-5.5%. Index lost 83.97 points or 1.74% at 4,753.07.

Power Index lost 1.33% to 2,516.41 due to sell off in CESC, Torrent Power, Reliance Infrastructure, Power Grid Corp and GVK Power, which lost 1.5-3.6%.

Telecom stocks like MTNL, Tata Communication, Reliance Communication, TataTeleservices, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel ended lower.

IT Index fell 1% to 3,853.39. Technology stocks like Tech Mahindra, I-Flex Solution, TCS, Wipro, Financial Tech and HCL Tech have lost ground.

Healthcare Index was down by 0.56% at 2,169.98. GSK Consumer, HUL, Tata Tea and Marico were draggers.

Pharma stocks like Dr Reddys Labs, Sun Pharma Advanced, Wockhardt, Glenmark, Sterling Biotech, Orchid Chemical and Matrix Lab plunged 1.5-3.5%. Healthcare Index fell 0.49% at 4,273.57.

BSE Midcap Index lost 77.58 points or 1.36% at 5,608.85 and Small Cap Index fell 77.61 points or 1.13% to 6,782.30. Amongst midcap stocks, Triveni Engg, Jain Irrigation, Thomas Cook, EID Parry, Hotel Leela, Bajaj Hind, IndusInd Bank and Balrampur Chini crashed around 5.5-7.5%.

In the small cap segment, Usher Agro, Ankur Drugs, Swaraj Mazda, MarathonNextgen, Wire & Wireless and Indraprastha lost 6-18%.

Market breadth remained in favour of declines through the day; about 1009 shares have advanced while 1842 shares declined. Nearly 318 shares remained unchanged.

Turnover traded in markets has improved a lot, especially due to F&O expiry. It stood at Rs 83,236.95 crore. This includes Rs 66,164.24 crore from F&O segment, Rs 4,041.46 crore from BSE Cash and balance Rs 13,031.25 crore from NSE Cash segment.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Shanghai Composite was up by 20.43 points or 0.87% at 2,362.57. Jakarta Composite rose by 18.32 points or 0.86% at 2,149.38. Nikkei gained 7.04 points or 0.06% at 12,760. Straits Times rose by 3.34 points or 0.12% at 2,708.43.