Sensex, Nifty crack over 3%; Shanghai Composite plunges 9%

Index heavyweights led the decline along with metal and auto shares

Markets continued to trade sharply lower, amid weak global cues, with China’s benchmark index Shanghai composite plunging over 9% after the Wall Street crashed on the Friday owing to concerns over economic slowdown in China, the world’s second largest economy.

At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 843 points at 26,523 and the Nifty slumped 266 points at 8,034.

In the broader market, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were down 3-4% each.
Market breadth was weak with 1,531 losers and 148 gainers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, foreign investors remained net sellers in equities with huge sale of Rs 2,341 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares and commodities weakened further on fears of economic slowdown in China. The benchmark Shanghai Composite extended losses and slumped over 9% while the Hang Seng and Nikkei were down over 4% while Straits Times was down 3.3%.

US shares recorded their worst single day fall in four years on the back of economic slowdown in China. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended over 3% lower on Friday.

RUPEE

The Indian rupee also dropped to fresh two-year low and was trading at 66.43 down 60 paise to the US dollar compared to it previous close on Friday on the back of an appreciating dollar.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the red with Realty , Auto and Consumer Durables indices among the top losers.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC were among the top Sensex losers along with capital goods shares.

Capital goods shares also witnessed profit taking with L&T and BHEL down 3-5% each.

Metal stocks weakened on worries over lower demand amid sluggish growth in China, the world's largest consumer. Vedanta dropped over 6% while Tata Steel and Hindalco were down 3-4% each.

Capital goods shares also witnessed profit taking with L&T and BHEL down 3-5% each.

Auto stocks witnessed profit taking on concerns that sales growth in August would remain muted. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and M&M were down 3-5% each.

Among other shares, Indian Oil Corporation dipped 4% to Rs 378 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), falling below their floor price of Rs 387 per share fixed for the offer-for-sale (OFS), which opens today.