NEW DELHI: The S&P BSE Sensex cracked nearly 2 per cent to hit a fresh 52-week low of 23,998.65 in Wednesday’s trade led by relentless slide in crude oil prices.The low point so far was lower than the lowest point recorded on May 16, 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won a landslide victory in the national elections.Crude futures slumped on Wednesday, with US oil dropping more than 3 per cent towards $27 a barrel, which is its lowest since 2003, amid worries over a global glut, said a Reuters report.With this, the S&P BSE Sensex has plunged by about 6,000 points from the record all-time high of 30,024.74 hit on March 4, 2015. The Nifty50 has seen a similar drop from its all-time high of 9,119.20 hit on March 4, 2015.The fall was broadbased, spilling into midcap and smallcap stocks. As many as 136 stocks are now trading at levels lower than where they were on May 16, 2014.Stocks trading below pre-Modi wave levels include names like Aban Offshore, ACC, Adani Enterprises, Ambuja Cements, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, DLF, Gail India, GMR Infrastructure, ICICI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, JSW Steel and Just Dial.However, as much as 357 stocks are still trading above the levels observed on May 16, 2015, which include names like 3M India, Aarti Drugs, Aarti Industries, Abbott India, Aegis Logistics, Alembic Pharma and Allcargo Logistics. Most of these stocks have more than doubled during this period.The weakness in the Indian market was largely imported, while the fundamentals for Indian economy are largely stable compared with other emerging markets. It will be a difficult time for traders to make money, but for investors, it is time to nibble into quality stocks, said experts.You need lot of heart to invest at current levels, but after a 20 per cent drop from highs, valuations of most stocks do look better, and as growth bounces back and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eases monetary policy further, markets should gain strength to beat the global turmoil.“This is not the first time financial markets are seeing a crisis. We have seen similar crisis in the past. If you look back at long-term returns, investments made during periods of crisis have always yielded superior returns over a longer period,” Pankaj Murarka, Axis MF, said in an interview with ET Now.“I think investors should stay calm and probably not get too jittery. I do not think this is the time to sell. If anything, one should use the crisis as an opportunity to accumulate stocks,” he said.A lot of people are comparing the current scenario with the global financial crisis, which erupted in 2008 led by the Lehman collapse. The current turmoil in the global markets is largely around the crash in crude oil prices, which touched a fresh 13-year low on Tuesday.Falling crude oil prices is bone for economies that import the commodity, but bad for economies that produces it. Falling crude oil prices could disrupt the balance of payment for most of the economies, which are in the business of producing crude oil.“Where it is common to the 2008 crisis is that it is a year when you should invest as you have a very good chance of making meaningful money in the long run. In that sense, it is common to 2008, it is common to 2011, it is common to 2002,” S Naren, ICICI Prudential AMC, said in an interview with ET Now.“If you study all the periods where FIIs have sold due to global reason, they have always been buying opportunities and on that basis, it is a very attractive period for long-term investors because the current problems of the market have nothing to do with India,” he said.