Sensex tanks 223 points on North Korea jitters

The BSE Sensex slumped over 223 points and the NSE Nifty slipped below the 9,900-mark in early trade today as realty, metal and banking stocks fell amid weak global cues on lingering worries about North Korea.

The rupee depreciating by 12 paise to 64.24 against the dollar in early trade had a bearing on market sentiment.The BSE 30-share barometer dropped by 223.02 points or 0.70 per cent to 31,586.53.

The gauge had gained 107.30 points in the previous session.

All sectoral indices led by realty, healhcare, metal and banking were in the red.

The NSE Nifty was trading down by 69.65 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 9,882.55.

Brokers said that



apart from continuous foreign fund outflows, deep losses at other Asian bourses and the US markets as investors reacted with dismay to lingering worries about North Korea nuclear crisis led to a slide in the Sensex.

Major losers that dragged down the key indices were Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ITC Ltd, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Axis Bank and HDFC Ltd, declining up to 2.37 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.06 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index down 0.39 per cent in early trade today.

Japan's Nikkei too was quoting lower by 0.31 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.07 per cent in yesterday's trade.