Sensex tanks 344 pts on capital outflows, weak rupee

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex crashed by over 344 points and the NSE Nifty dipped below 8,200-mark in early trade as investors engaged in cutting down their bets amid rupee plunging by 42 paise.

Moreoever, a mixed trend at other Asian markets too influenced the trading sentiment. The rupee dropped by 42 paise to trade at 67.67 against the US dollar in early trade today at the forex market. The 30-share barometer plunged 344.27 points or 1.28 per cent to 26,474.55, with sectoral indices led by auto, realty, consumer durables and FMCG leading the fall, plummeting by up to 2.98 per cent.

It had lost 698.86 points in the previous session on Friday. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty broke below the 8,200-level by dropping 106.50 points or 1.28 per cent to 8,189.80. Meanwhile, the government's data, released on Friday, showed industrial production grew a meagre 0.7 per cent in September, mainly due to poor show by manufacturing and mining sectors coupled with decline in capital goods output.

Stocks exchanges remained closed yesterday on account of 'Guru Nanak Jayanti'. Brokers said sentiments remained bearish on continued foreign fund outflows and weakness in emerging market currencies against the dollar since Donald Trump's unexpected win in the US presidential election on November 8. Besides, muted second quarterly earnings posted by some more bluechip companies accelerated selling activity, they added. In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.13 per cent, while Shanghai's Composite index plunged 0.27 per cent in early trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.37 per cent.

Meanwhile, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.11 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.