Sensex recovers over 300 pts; Taiwan turns green

Indian equity benchmarks were showing some semblance of a recovery after the initial crash - the Sensex recouped about 300 points from intra-day low. Recovery was seen in Asian markets too. China's Shanghai, which was down 2.5% at one point, pared losses to trade down only 1%.  Taiwan gained 0.5% after dropping 4.5% in the morning trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading down 260 points at 16,730 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was trading 78 points at 5,040. The Indian rupee depreciated 0.77% to 45.31 per dollar.

Brent crude got back above USD 100 a barrel; it was down 2.4% to USD 101 a barrel. Crude fell 4% to USD 78 a barrel on the NYMEX. However, gold - safe commodity - rallied 2.7% to USD 1766 an ounce.

At 9:46 hours IST: Nifty reclaims 5K; IT remains worst hit amid sell-off

BSE benchmark Sensex continues to be under extreme pressure just as the rest of the world. Asian Indices continued their fall for the second day as sentiments post US downgrade remained fragile. But the Nifty managed to get back above the 5000-mark.

Analysing the global phenomenon, Robert Parker of Credit Suisse told CNBC-TV18 that "the US rating downgrade was discounted by global markets. What we are currently seeing is more of investor fear, which is propelled by credibility of sovereign debt.