Sensex, Nifty plunges 4 pc in the early trade

Mumbai, Mar 13: The key indices opens in red and plunged nearly four per cent on off-loading of shares by the investors across the sector following the weak trends in Asian market. The benchmark Sensex opened with a negative gap of over 250 points at 15,873.28 and further loss dived 696.25 points to hit a low at 15,531.73 from its previous close of 16,127.98, on extended selling pressure in the early trade.

Meanwhile, the broader-based Nifty index at National Stock Exchange dropped over 190 points at 4,678.25 from its previous close of 4,872.00, after opening marginally low at 4,868.80 following the similar trend. Fresh setback was witnessed on the bourses in early trade as Asian stock markets sharply fell amid doubts about the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve's efforts to aid strained credit markets, brokers said.

From the 30 member Sensex pack 26 shares declined from their previous close. The market breadth turned negative once again. IT pivotals declined on selling pressure as rupee gained its strength against the US Dollar during the last two days.

TCS slumped 4.95 per cent to Rs 784 on 36,211 shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack, Satyam Computers declined 1.80 per cent to Rs 372.50, Wipro was declined by 3.04 per cent to Rs 378 and Infosys dropped by 1.45 per cent to Rs 1364.

Heavyweights like Reliance Industries lost 3.12 per cent to Rs 2302 on 1.09 lakh shares, Reliance Energy tumbled 4.77 per cent to Rs 1265, Bharat Heavy Electricals declined 4.84 per cent to Rs 1919 and Grasim came down 3.55 per cent to Rs 2790, were the other losers from Sensex pack.

As per provisional data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 127.94 crore yesterday. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net sellers of shares worth Rs 528.06 crore on the same day.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 1,898.64 crore in the futures and options segment on the yesterday. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,386.07 crore and bought index options worth Rs 287.57 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 200.50 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 24.50 crore.

UNI