China sell-off weigh on markets; Sensex down 300 points, Nifty slips below 7,650

Metal and auto stocks were among the top losers in early trades

Markets were down over 1% each on Thursday tracking weakness in Asian peers after China's regulators halted trading for the day following a sharp plunge in Chinese shares. The devaluation of the years rekindled fears of a growth slowdown in the world's second largest economy while slump in crude oil prices also dampened sentiment.

At 9:35am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 320 points at 25,085 and the Nifty50 was down 99 points at 7,641.

"For the Nifty resistance is seen at 7766 above 7796 and support for the Nifty is seen at 7720 below 7715," Geojit BNP Financial Services said in a note.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 242 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets were trading sharply lower on Thursday amid a sell-off in Chinese shares with the Shanghai Composite down 7.9% and CSI 300 down over 7%. Trading was halted on the stock exchanges for the day after the benchmarks hit their circuit limit. Meanwhile, shares in Japan and Hong Kong came off their day's low. Nikkei was down 2%, Hang Seng eased

US stocks ended lower in overnight trades after the yuan devaluation triggered growth concerns in China while slump in crude oil prices also dampened sentiment. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 252.15 points, or 1.47%, to 16,906.51, the S&P 500 lost 26.45 points, or 1.31%, to 1,990.26 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 55.67 points, or 1.14%, to 4,835.77.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices on the BSE were in the red with Metal index emerging as the top loser down nearly 2% followed by Auto and Capital Goods indices among others.

Tata Motors was down nearly 4% on concerns that the growth slowdown in China may impact JLR sales.

Among other auto shares, Maruti Suzuki was down 2.4% while M&M eased 1.8%. Two-wheeler majors Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were trading with marginal losses.

Reliance Industries was down 1.3% on profit taking after recent gains.

Other Sensex losers include, ICICI Bank, Infosys, L&T, Axis Bank, ITC and Adani Ports among others.

Metal stocks slumped after the devaluation of yuan would lead to exports becoming costlier. Hindalco, Jindal Steel, SAIL and Tata Steel were down nearly 3% each.

However, Lupin, GAIL and Wipro were trading with marginal gains.