Sensex dives 288 points in early trade

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex fell over 288 points and the NSE Nifty dipped below the 11,400-level in opening trade on Monday on heavy losses in PSUs, auto, metal and banking counters amid a global rout in equity markets.

A weak trend in Asia coupled with sell-offs on Wall Street last week and a slump in the Turkish lira dampened the sentiment globally, traders said.

The BSE 30-share barometer tanked 288.16 points, or 0.76 per cent, to 37,581.07. The gauge had lost 155.14 in the previous session.

Sectoral indices led by PSU, metal, infrastructure, power, oil & gas, auto, capital goods, realty and consumer durables were trading in the negative terrain, falling by up to 1.43 per cent.

The NSE Nifty was trading down by 83.75 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 11,345.75.

The laggards were Vedanta, Tata Motors, NTPC, HDFC, Power Grid, RIL, ONGC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki,



Asian Paints, Yes Bank, Adani Ports, Kotak Bank, Yes Bank and L&T, falling up to 3.98 per cent.

Foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 510.66 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 457.83 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

Asian shares tumbled after investor sentiment took a hit amid the slump in the Turkish currency, lira, on geopolitical developments.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.44 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.83 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.94 per cent in their late morning deals.

US stocks dropped on Friday, triggered by fears over the sell-offs in the lira after US President Donald Trump said he had approved the doubling of metal tariffs against Turkey on Friday.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.77 per cent lower on Friday.