Benchmark BSE Sensex slumped about 344 points Thursday to settle at 33,690.09 on across-the-board selling on prevailing liquidity crunch and fresh weakness in the rupee amid a global sell-off. October futures and options (F&O) expiry added to the woes as investors offloaded their long bets instead of carrying them forward to the next series for November, brokers said. During October F&O series, the BSE Sensex dropped 2,634.08 points, or over 7 per cent while the NSE Nifty lost 852.65 points, or almost 8 per cent.


In the forex market, the rupee weakened by 22 paise to 73.38 against the US dollar intra-day. The 30-share Sensex, after gap down opening at 33,778.60 points, continued to slide and touched a low of 33,553.18, dragged down by all-round selling amid the a sell-off in global markets. It finally settled 343.87 points, or 1.01 per cent lower at 33,690.09. The gauge had gained nearly 187 points on Wednesday. -- PTI