Crisis in Ukraine drags Sensex by nearly 200 pts

Markets slipped to their day's lows because of heightened political tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Benchmark share indices were trading near their day's lows because of heightened political tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Further, the Russian benchmark equity index MICEX was down nearly 10% and the Russian central bank hiked key lending rate by 150 basis points to 7% after the rouble plunged to an all-time low against the US dollar.

At 2:10PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 183 points at 20,936 after hitting an intra-day low of 20,921 and the 50-share Nifty was down 59 points at 6,218 after touching an intra-day low of 6,212.

The rupee is trading lower at 61.92 per dollar versus Friday's close of 61.75. Dealers are watching for the timing of possible dollar outflows related to Iran oil payments. Global risk aversion on geopolitical tensions in Ukraine is weighing on most Asian currencies.

Except for Shanghai Composite all other major stock indices in the Asian region were down over 1% each following the geopolitical unrest between Russia and Ukraine. Japan's Nikkei average ended sharply lower on Monday as escalating tensions in Ukraine sparked risk aversion and the appreciating yen dampened sentiment. The Nikkei extended losses to end 1.27% lower at 14,652, its lowest close since February 20. Hang Seng, Straits Times were down over 1% each while Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%.

European shares also fell sharply lower tracking the crisis in Ukraine with CAC, DAX and FTSE down 1.2-2.3% each.

Healthcare index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 1.7% followed by Capital Goods, IT, Auto and Power indices down over 1% each.

Select auto, financial, capital goods and healthcare shares which had gained sharply last week amid firm buying by foreign funds witnessed profit taking at higher levels.

Top Sensex losers include, TCS, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, L&T, HDFC, Infosys and Dr Reddy's Labs, Mahindra & Mahindra among others.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Gail India and ITC were marginal gainers in the Sensex pack.

Among other shares, HT Media was up 3% at Rs 80 after Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought 1.5 million shares in the company though open market.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index and the Small-cap index were down 0.1-0.3% each.

Market breadth was weak with 1,375 losers and 1,123 gainers on the BSE.