Nifty breaks 8,200; Sensex plunges over 600 points

Markets continue to reel under selling pressure and are trading near day’s low weighed down by index heavyweight shares and weak global cues.

At 12:15 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 627 points at 27,215 and the 50-share Nifty was down 182 points at 8,197.

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Updated at 10:46

Markets extended losses in morning trade on Tuesday with the benchmark shares indices down nearly 2%, amid weak global cues, after the sharp fall in global crude oil prices raised worries over global growth slowdown.

At 10:45AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 521 points at 27,321 and the 50-share Nifty was down 147 points at 8,232.

Crude oil prices plunged to fresh 5-1/2-year lows on rising concerns about a surplus of global supplies and lacklustre demand. Meanwhile, NYMEX crude was trading at $50.10.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities to the tune of Rs 472 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The Indian rupee was trading marginally higher at Rs 63.38 compared to the previous close of Rs 63.42.

All the sectoral indices were in the red. BSE Metal index was the top loser down 2.4% followed by Oil and Gas, Realty, Capital Goods, Auto, Bankex and IT among others.

ICICI Bank and HDFC were down 2.4% while index heavyweight Infosys was down over 2% contributing the most to the Sensex losses.

Among other bank shares, Axis Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank were down 0.7-2.2% each.

Oil shares were down tracking sharp drop in global crude oil prices. Reliance Industries was down 2.5% and ONGC eased 3.5%.

Other Sensex losers include, TCS, L&T and ITC.

Meanwhile, Hindustan Unilever recouped intra-day losses and was the sole gainer in the Sensex.

Among other shares, Cairn India has dipped over 3% to Rs 236 on the NSE as oil prices slumped to new 5-1/2-year lows yesterday on worries about a surplus of global supplies and lacklustre demand.

Shares of Deepak Fertilisers were down nearly 2% at Rs 144 after the company which is in the middle of a year-long battle to acquire Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers, has sold over two per cent stake in the takeover target in nine tranches during the past month.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were down over 1.5% each.

Market breadth weakened further with 1,728 losers and 527 gainers on the BSE.