The Indian benchmarks recouped most of the losses after resuming trading after a halt of 45 minutes as the 10% market wide circuit breakers were hit around 9:20am.
At 10:55 am, the benchmark Sensex was trading at 32,334.21, down 444 points or 1.35%.
The index recovered a little over 2,945 points from the day's low of 29,388.97. The broader Nifty, which hit the 10% lower circuit earlier at 8,624.05, was trading at 9,514.80, down 75 points.
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The India VIX index jumped more than 28%. Around 1,300 stocks were in the red, as against 465 gainers. In the first hour of the trading session, there were less than 90 gainers.
This is the first time in 12 years that Indian markets have hit the lower circuit.
The 30-share Sensex plunged 3,090.62 points or 9.43% to touch 29,687.52 before trading was suspended.
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As many as 17 stocks in the Sensex lost more than 10% in the first few minutes of the trading session on Friday.
TCS, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, ONGC and State Bank of India among others all lost over 10%.
On an overall basis, more than 1,200 stocks were in the red as against less than 90 gainers.