Sensex falls over 340 points while Nifty around 16,140 in early trade

The Sensex fell 340 points in early trade on Tuesday, as equity benchmarks remained under pressure from sluggish global markets.

The Sensex began lower, falling 340.76 points to 54,054.47 in early trade. The NSE Nifty fell 72.65 points to 16,143.35.

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Tata Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, UltraTech Cement, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, and ICICI Bank were the main laggards in early trade among Sensex participants. Gainers were NTPC, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, and Bharti Airtel.

Markets in Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong were trading lower in Asia. On Monday, the US markets finished lower.

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“Caution will be the buzzword for today’s trading as overnight US benchmark indices faltered while other Asian gauges too have retreated sharply in early trades,” said Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Limited.

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“While there seems to be no respite from FII selling, DIIs too joined the bandwagon and offloaded shares in yesterday’s trades, selling to the tune of Rs 170 crore and Rs 297 crore, respectively. Although the selling was not that aggressive, it’s enough to dent bullish sentiments,” he added.

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On Monday, the BSE benchmark fell 86.61 points, or 0.16%, to 54,395.23. The Nifty fell 4.60 points, or 0.3%, to 16,216.

According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors continued to be net sellers on Monday, offloading shares worth Rs 170.51 crore.

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Separately, the international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.43% to USD 105.46 per barrel. In early trade on Tuesday, the rupee lost 13 paise to 79.58 against the US dollar, as strong US dollar abroad and losses in local markets impacted investor mood.