The Sensex, which had surged to a new peak at 19,198.66 at noon, tumbled on fag-end selling by funds and closed with a loss of 717.43 points at 17,998.39.

It also touched the day's low of 17,771.16 points.

The selling pressure gathered momentum in the last 30- minutes of trading as some rumours about political developments pulled down the market on selling in blue chip stocks led by metal, capital goods and banking segment stocks.

Similarly, the second wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty tumbled by 208.30 points at 5351, after touching the day's low of 5269.65 and a high of 5736.80 points. - DDNEWS