Sensex down 287 points, Nifty below 9,900-mark on US-North Korea tensions

Mumbai: Stocks were a bundle of nerves on Monday as the Sensex plunged over 287 points and the Nifty broke below the 9,900-mark in opening trade on persistent concerns about US-North Korea tug-of-war amid foreign capital exit.

All sectoral indices were in the red, dragged down by capital goods, metal, consumer durables and healthcare, falling by up to 2.03 per cent.

The BSE 30-share barometer tumbled 287.50 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 31,634.94. The gauge had slumped 501.22 points in the previous four sessions.

Also, the 50-share NSE Nifty was trading down by 99.80 points, or 1 per cent, at 9,864.60.

Traders said that apart from continuous foreign funds outflows, selling by retail investors amid lingering North Korea tensions led to a further drop in the Sensex.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,241.73 crore on Friday, showed provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Major losers pulling down the key indices were Adani Ports, Lupin, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, SBI, L&T, Kotak Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and ONGC, declining up to 3.14 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.16 per cent while Shanghai Composite shed 0.38 per cent in early trade on Monday.

Japan's Nikkei, however, was up 0.58 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.04 per cent down on Friday.