Mumbai, April 21 (IANS) The Indian stock market continued its freefall on Tuesday afternoon, with the BSE Sensex losing over 1,200 points.

The plunge in the domestic market was largely on the back of the weakness in the Asian markets which tumbled post the crash in the US oil prices. In a historic price movement, the futures of WTI crude in the US for the first time fell below zero and turned negative.

Around 1 p.m., Sensex was trading at 30,436.32, lower by 1,211.68 points or 3.83 per cent from the previous close of 31,648.

It had opened at 30,836.19 and has touched an intra-day high of 30,900.12 and a low of 30,407.01 points.

The NSE Nifty50 was trading at 8,923.35, lower by 338.50 points or 3.65 per cent from the previous close.

Heavy selling was witnessed in oil and gas, finance, banking and energy stocks.

--IANS rrb/in