The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange tumbled 240 points, to 16,500 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank hiked its inflation forecast and the Statutory Liquidity Ratio in its quarterly monetary policy review. Remaining weak, the Sensex stood 226 points, or 1.4 percent in the red, at 16,514, as short while ago. Earlier, the Sensex had lost 154 points in opening trade. Bank and realty stocks were beaten down, following the RBI's credit policy announcement. Other Asian markets in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore were down by between 1 percent and 1.5 percent.