Sensex drops 250 pts; Nifty below 11,450

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex extended its losing streak by falling over 250 points in early trade on Wednesday, led by losses global markets amid rising US-China tension.

The 30-share index was trading 205.12 points, or 0.54 per cent, lower at 38,071.51.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty was down 63.65 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 11,434.25.

Top losers in early session were RIL, ONGC, Vedanta, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins, HUL and SBI, shedding up to 1.57 per cent.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Yes Bank and Sun Pharma were the top gainers, rising up to 0.82 per cent.

In the previous session on Monday, the BSE bourse ended 323.71 points, or 0.84 per cent, lower at 38,276.63. The NSE Nifty too dropped 100.35 points to settle below the 11,500 level at 11,497.90.

According to Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management, markets across the globe have been weak as the resumption of trade war threats continue to make headlines.

"Earnings have not been encouraging with consumer companies missing analyst estimates and private bank earnings impacted by higher provisions," he said.

However, the earnings slowdown could be attributable to political uncertainty and consumers choosing to hold back on purchases until clarity emerges, he added.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equity worth Rs 645.08 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares to the tune of Rs 818.84 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a negative note.

On Wall Street, S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite indices ended up to 2 per cent lower on Tuesday.

On the currency front, the rupee depreciated 20 paise to 69.62 against the US dollar.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.44 per cent higher at USD 70.19 per barrel.