Sensex sinks 308 points in early trade ahead of RBI policy

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged over 308 points in early trade on September 29, on sustained selling by funds and retail investors ahead of RBI's monetary policy review amid a weak trend overseas. Besides, depreciation in the rupee, which fell by 32 paise to 66.37 against the US dollar, weighed on sentiments.

Continuing yesterday's weakness, the 30-share index fell by 308.90 points, or 1.20 per cent, to 25,307.94, with all the sectoral indices, led by metal, banking and auto, trading in negative zone with losses up to 2 per cent. The gauge had lost 246.66 points in the previous session. Also, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 94.80 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 7,700.90 in early trade.

Brokers said besides weak trend on other Asian bourses, tracking heavy selling in Europe and the US on renewed concerns about China's slowing economy, continued selling by cautious funds and retail investors ahead of RBI's policy review later in the day, influenced sentiments.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 3 per cent, Japan's Nikkei shed 2.77 per cent, while Shanghai Composite index fell 1.87 per cent in early trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.92 per cent lower in Monday's trade.