Sensex tanks 469 points in early trade on foreign fund outflows, weak US markets

Mumbai, Mar 26 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tanked in early trade on Tuesday amid sustained foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 468.91 points to 72,363.03. The NSE Nifty declined 149.2 points to 21,947.55.

From the Sensex basket, PowerGrid, Maruti, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement and Titan were the major laggards.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Shanghai were quoting lower, while Seoul and Hong Kong traded in the positive territory.

Wall Street ended lower on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,309.76 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

“Market is likely to consolidate this week in the absence of any known triggers for sharp up or down moves. Since the week is a truncated week of three trading days, volumes have dipped markedly indicating absence of significant directional move,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Equity markets were closed on Monday for Holi.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.01 per cent to USD 86.74 a barrel.

On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 190.75 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 72,831.94. The NSE Nifty had advanced 84.80 points or 0.39 per cent to 22,096.75.