Sensex cracks 408 pts on global sell-off; Nifty below 10,400

The benchmark BSE Sensex sank over 408 points in early trade on Friday on heavy selling in IT, energy and banking stocks triggered by weak trends in global markets.

The broader NSE NIfty dipped below the 10,400-mark as 32 of its constituents led by Indiabulls Housing Finance dropped. The NSE Nifty index fell 80.85 points, or 0.77 per cent, at 10,372.30.

The BSE 30-share barometer dropped 408.45 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 34,371.13 in early trade.

IT, teck, auto, oil&gas and bankex were trading in the negative zone, down up to 2.40 per cent.

The gauge had lost 382.90 points in the previous session on Wednesday.

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Index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped more than fivr  per cent despite better-than-expected earnings posted by the company on Wednesday. RIL reported its highest ever quarterly net profit of Rs 9,516 crore, a 17.4 per cent rise year-on-year, for the July-September period.

Other laggards were Yes Bank, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, M&M, Tata Motors, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, HUL, Coal India, L&T and HDFC Bank, falling up to 3.57 per cent.

Sentiments also dampened after Chinese shares extended and the yuan touched its weakest level in almost two years.

Chinese stocks plunged 2.94 per cent, Japan's Nikkei shed 1.17 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.26 per cent following overnight losses at the Wall Street due to interest rate hike concerns and impact of tariffs.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.273 per cent down Wednesday.

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Meanwhile, on a net basis,  domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 343.11 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 140.02 crore on Wednesday, provisional data showed.

Markets remained closed on Thursday on account of Dussehra.