Sensex cracks over 400 points, Nifty below 11,700-mark ahead of post-Budget meet

Domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex cracked over 400 points in early trade on Monday dragged by losses in HDFC twins, L&T and RIL stocks, amid heavy selloff in global equities. The 30-share index was trading 405.67 points, or 1.03 per cent, lower at 39,107.72 at 0930 hours. Similarly, the broader Nifty sank 128 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 11,683.15.

Top losers in the Sensex pack included Hero MotoCorp, L&T, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Tata Motors and HUL, falling up to 3.44 per cent. While, Yes Bank, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Infosys, ITC, Vedanta and PowerGrid were among the gainers, rising up to 6 per cent.

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In the previous session, the 30-share gauge finished 394.67 points, or 0.99 per cent, lower at 39,513.39, and the Nifty sank 135.60 points or 1.14 per cent, to 11,811.15, after the Union Budget proposal to raise public shareholding threshold fanned fears of oversupply of new papers in an already overbought market.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 89.38 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares to the tune of Rs 275.63 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed Friday. Besides overhang from the Union Budget, domestic equities extended losses tracking a major selloff in global equities, traders said.

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Other Asian markets opened significantly lower as hopes of steep cuts in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve faded after the world's largest economy posted better-than-expected jobs data Friday. Shanghai Composite Index plunged 2.46 per cent, Hang Seng 1.64 per cent, Nikkei 0.99 per cent and Kospi tumbled 1.85 per cent in their respective early sessions.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee depreciated 15 paise to 68.57 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 0.06 per cent higher at 64.27 per barrel.