Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS): After falling below the 16,000-mark, a key Indian equities index Monday continued to be in a free fall amid weak global cues, a continuing slide in the value of the rupee and pressure on the United Progressive Alliance ((UPA) government over the telecom airwaves case.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 16,209.19 points against its previous close at 16,162.06 points, but slipped into the red soon after.

Around 11.45 a.m., the benchmark index was ruling at 15,805.56 points, with a loss of 356.5 points, or 2.21 percent. As many as 29 out of the 30 shares that constitute the Sensex basket were in the red. The key index had slipped to a low of 15,848 points on Aug 26.

Since the beginning of the year, the index is down nearly 4,700 points or almost 23 percent.

At the National Stock Exchange, the situation was no better with the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ruling at 4,768 points, down 99.75 points, or 2.05 percent over the previous close.

The market breadth at the BSE was negative with only 463 stocks advancing, compared to 1,986 on the decline and 79 remaining unchanged.

While rupee was ruling at 49.57 per dollar, against its close at 49.42 Friday, the bullion market was also weak, with gold and silver down.

Apart from the trouble in the Eurozone, Greece and the US, sentiments were also affected by the political rift caused by a letter from the finance ministry to the Prime Minister's Office, that is seen just short of indicting Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the second generation (2G) spectrum case.

In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram, as finance minister in 2007, could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction, implying that presumptive losses could have been avoided.

The European debt crisis, particularly the one in Greece, continued to plague other Asian markets too as investors dumped equities for safer investment options.

The Japanese Nikkei was ruling 2.13 percent lower at 8,378.1 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was ruling 2.81 percent down at 17,173.2 points.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite index was ruling 1.06 percent lower at 2,407.26 points.