Indian stock markets plunged further on Wednesday afternoon, as the Sensex breached the psychological 30,000-mark.

It fell over 1,200 points to touch an intra-day low of 29,325.41. At 12.43 p.m., it was trading at 29,441.87, lower by 1,137.22 points or 3.72 per cent from the previous close of 30,579.09.

Bears came into action few minutes after the index opened nearly 400 points higher. It had opened at 30,968.84 and touched an intra-day high of 31,101.77 during the initial trade.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was also trading way lower than the psychological mark of 9,000 points.

It was 333.90 points or 3.72 per cent lower at 8,633.15.

The sector-wide selloff in the Indian markets was led by heavy selling in banking and finance stocks.

On the Sensex, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance were the top losers while ITC, TCS and Infosys were the only stocks which gained.