Sensex drops 285 points in morning trade; Nifty below 8K-level

Mumbai - Bears continued to cast shadow as the benchmark BSE Sensex extended its overnight crash to drop 284.91 points and Nifty fell below the crucial 8K-level on across the board selling amid mixed Asian cues.

The market was entangled by global uncertainties due to fall in crude oil prices, Russian currency turmoil as well as uninterrupted selling by FIIs.

There is a need of definite trigger for bourses to recoup as investors are looking for the outcome of a crucial US Federal Reserve meeting, a trader said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex resumed lower at 27,724.01 and dipped to 26,483.57, down by 284.91 points, or 1.06 percent, at 1015 hours.

The NSE 50-share Nifty fell below the crucial 8,000-mark, falling by by 95.50 points, or 1.18 percent, to quote at 7,972.10.

There was selling across the sectors, led by metal, realty, banking, auto, healthcare, consumer durables, capital goods, power, IT, tech and oil & gas, along with shares from mid-cap and small-cap companies.

Foreign Portfolio Investors sold shares worth a net Rs 1,247.24 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Major losers were Cipla (2.72 percent), Tata Power (2.37 percent), Sun Pharma (2.16 percent), Bharti Airtel (2.13 percent), Hero Moto (1.70 percent) and Tata Motors (1.65 percent).

Asian stocks were trading mixed.

Key indices in Indonesia, South Korea, China and Japan rose 0.01-0.99 percent while those in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan were down by 0.21-0.74 percent. (PTI)