Sensex Plunges Over 400 Points, Nifty Below 11,500

The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged over 400 points in afternoon session on Monday, after opening in the red as rupee hit new record low level. At 12:52 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 401.42 points or 1.05 per cent to trade at 37,988.40. The broader Nifty50 was trading at 11,458.55, down 130.55 points or 1.13 per cent.  Widening current account deficit and negative global cues also hurt the market sentiment. Heavy selling was witnessed in FMCG, telecom, consumer durables, finance, oil and gas, realty, power, metals, banks, energy, auto and utilities sectors today.

The rupee collapsed to a new record low of 72.67 against the US dollar today, reported news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).

The main losers in the 30-share Sensex pack in the morning session were Sun Pharma (-1.05%), Power Grid Corporation (-1.15%), ICICI Bank (-1.18%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (-1.25%), Tata Motors (-1.30%) and YES Bank (-1.41%). The top laggards in the 50-share Nifty pack were Tata Motors (-1.46%), Sun Pharma (-1.34%), Bharti Infratel (-1.19%), ONGC (-0.995), and ICICI Bank (-0.98%).

On the other hand, major gainers in the 30-share Sensex pack in the session were Axis Bank (+3.99%), Infosys (+1.37%), Tata Steel (+0.52%), Wipro (+0.49%), TCS (+0.49%), NTPC (+0.32%). Infosys (+1.25%), Axis Bank (+0.77%), Vedanta (+0.74%), Power Grid (+0.52%) and Lupin (+0.48%) led the pack of Nifty gainers.

According to RBI data released Friday, the current account deficit (CAD) widened to $15.8 billion in April-June this year as against $15 billion in the same quarter of 2017-18 in value terms, mainly due to a higher trade deficit.  Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 37.56 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases to the tune of Rs 942.45 crore on Friday, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.    

Meanwhile, a sell-off in Chinese shares pulled Asian equities to a 14-month trough on Monday as investors braced for a potentially damaging escalation in the Sino-U.S. tariff row after US President Donald Trump raised the stakes in the dispute with Beijing.

In global commodities markets, oil prices rose as US drilling for new production stalled and as the market eyed tighter conditions once Washington's sanctions against Iran's crude exports kick in from November.

In its previous session on Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 147.01 points to close at 38,389.82, while the NSE Nifty settled at 11,589.10, registering a gain of 52.20 points, or 0.45 per cent. That marked a second straight day of gains for the markets. (With agencies inputs)