Sensex sheds 144 points in early trade

Mumbai, Dec 16:

The Sensex and the Nifty plunged nearly 1.3 per cent on sustained selling by funds and retail investors owing to weak global cues.

Domestic sentiment was dampened as crude oil prices sank to fresh multi-year lows and the rupee breached the 63-level mark to trade at 63.47 against the dollar on heavy dollar demand and fresh capital outflows.

At 11.45 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was trading down by 361.98 points at 26,957.58 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 110.95 points to trade at 8,108.65.

Sectoral indices

Barring IT and TECk, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading significantly in the red. Among them, metal index fell the most by 3.00 per cent, followed by realty 2.87 per cent, consumer durables 2.56 per cent and banking 2.15 per cent, while IT index was up 1.46 per cent and TECk 0.94 per cent.

Gainers, losers

TCS (2.34%), BHEL (1.19%), Infosys (0.78%) and Wipro (0.58%) were the only four Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were Hindalco (6.13%), SSLT (5.04%), ICICI Bank (3.52%), Dr Reddy's (3.05%) and ONGC (3.00%).

Early trade

The markets fell soon after the morning bell, dragged down by auto, metal and banking stocks. The Sensex tumbled 273.05 points, or 1 per cent, to 27,046.51. The gauge had lost 511.54 points in the previous three sessions. Similarly, the Nifty declined by 64 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 8,155.60.

Originally posted here:
Sensex sheds 144 points in early trade