BSE Sensex nose-dives 265 points

Mumbai, Aug 21: Sensitivity Index, the benchmark index of Bombay Stock Exchange nose-dived over 265 points at 14,412 even as Nifty shed 87 points at 4,328 on fresh selling pressure in the opening trade, on weak global cues. The Indian bourses slid southward, breaking previous relief as weak Asian markets weighed the sentiment across the sector. Banking stocks fell ahead of the weekly inflation data to be announced by the government today, brokers said.

Mid-cap and Small-cap index were trading at a marginal loss and most of the sectoral indices were in red in the mid-morning trading session. Banking stocks fell ahead of inflation data. State Bank of India was down by 1.73 per cent to Rs 1,419.85, ICICI Bank fell 1.39 per cent to Rs 668.90, HDFC Bank was down by 1.34 per cent to Rs1,221.30.

However, Tata Motors rose by 4.48 per cent to Rs 443.05. The company yesterday said that it will scrap a planned Rs 3,000 crore convertible preference share issue due to weak stock markets and will raise funds by selling some investments.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net equity sellers worth Rs 447.34 crore, while mutual funds purchased shares worth Rs 205.60 crore in the previous session, according to provisional data on NSE.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 350.96 crore in the futures&options segment yesterday. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 405.94 crore and purchased index options worth Rs 330.26 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 391.82 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 6.57 crore.

UNI