Sensex drops 217 pts on sell-off in banking, pharma stocks

Market benchmark BSE Sensex dropped by around 218 points or 0.60 per cent due to continued sell-off in banking, pharma, and metal stocks amid foreign fund outflows and weak Asian cues.

The broad-based Nifty cracked below the 11,000-mark as 35 of its constituents closed in the red, led by pharma and metal shares.

Investors turned cautious after India's trade deficit widened to a more than three-and-a-half-year high of USD 16.6 billion due to costlier crude oil imports and inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to 5.77 per cent in June, brokers said.

Asian stock markets too were down as data showed growth in China's economy slowed in the second quarter, and investors remain cautious over the impact of heated China-US trade war.

The 30-share index started positive at 36,658.71, but the higher levels gave way as the gauge ended at 36,323.77, down 217.86 points, or 0.60 per cent. In the intra-day, it also hit a low of 36,298.94.

It had shed 6.78 points in the previous session on Friday after scaling a life time high of 36,740.07 (intra-day).

The 50-share NSE Nifty felt the selling pressure and settled down by 82.05 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 10,936.85. Intra-day, it touched a low of 10,926.25 and a high of 11,019.50.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,104.65 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 872 crore, as per provisional data.