Sensex dives 287 points over global concerns, foreign fund outflows

The Sensex tanked 287 points in the opening trade on Monday morning, weighed down by concerns over the US, North Korea tensions and the exit of foreign capital. The Nifty fell below the 9,900 mark to  9,864.60.

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

The 50-share NSE Nifty was trading down by 99.80 points, or 1 per cent.

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.

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

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

Adani Ports, Lupin, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, SBI, L&T, Kotak Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and ONGC, were the major losers which pulled down the key indices - the decline was up to 3.14 per cent.

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

Japan's Nikkei, however, was up 0.58 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.04 per cent down on Friday.