Mumbai, Mar 7: Inflation racing past the crucial 5 per cent, lingering fears of recession catching up with US, and Left parties' fresh threat to the UPA government-- all these factors put together offered a perfect recipe on Friday for Sensex to come crashing down and end below 16k level.

In a day marked by heavy losses, The 30-share benchmark Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange settled the day at 15,975.52, a net fall of 566.56 points, or 3.42 per cent, from its previous close.

The Asian indices also fell in the range of 1.26 per cent to 3.6 per cent.

The BSE barometer is closing below this level for the first time since September 18 last year.

Realty, power and banking shares took a battering, leading to the steep fall in Sensex. Blue-chips Hidaclo, L&T, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Reliance Energy posted significant losses in the range of 6-13 per cent.

Marketmen said investor sentiment was hit after the wholesale price based inflation for the week ended February 23 crossed the Reserve Bank's tolerance level of 5 per cent for the first time in 10 months.

The sentiment was also dampened by persistent weakness in global markets,