Mumbai, June 9: Stocks went into a free fall today with the bellwether sensex plunging to a three-month low at 14846.18 in afternoon trade before hauling itself above the critical 15000 level.

The market had opened weak in the morning, catching the chill from skittish Asian bourses that were struggling to deal with Friday’s blowout in the crude oil price that soared over $ 138 a barrel.

Nervous marketmen groaned at the prospect of another raft of measures to tame inflation which surged to 8.24 per cent last week.

Realty stocks were flattened by the blustery winds that blew across rain-swept Mumbai with the sectoral index sinking 7.28 per cent – the biggest casualty on the BSE today. The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also tumbled 126.85 points before closing at 4500.95.

“The uncertainty over crude oil prices has been haunting investors. The FIIs are staying away, and the retail investors can’t make any sense of the market trends,” said Hiten Sampat of Parag Parikh Financial Services. “Unless the government takes firm measures to rein in inflation, the markets will remain choppy,” he added.

“The FIIs are exiting the emerging markets to offload their risky assets and face redemption pressures. The sensex should find strong support at 12000 and the Nifty at 4000 levels,” Sampat added.

Reliance Industries lost about 3.41 per cent, while real estate giant DLF shed about 7.39 per cent. IT bluechip Wipro fell about 5 per cent.

“We believe the market will recover only by the later half of the year. Investors fear that inflation might cross 10 per cent after the latest surge in oil prices. Once inflation eases, the market can touch around 17500 within 5 to 6 months,” said Shashank Panda of Capgemini Consulting.