Sensex extends losses, cracks over 450 points; Nifty near 11,000

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex extended losses in afternoon trade, plunging over 450 points on sustained bouts of selling in realty, auto, banks, finance, telecom, industrials and healthcare stocks amid rising crude prices and weak Asian cues.

The 30-share index was trading lower at 36,378.14 showing a loss of 463.46 points, or 1.26 per cent at 1200 hrs. The broader Nifty 50 index was trading at 11,007.25, down 135.85 points, or 1.22 per cent. Major losers were M&M, Maruti, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank, falling up to 6 per cent.

Gainers include TCS, Infosys, Coal India, Vedanta and ONGC, rising up to 3.48 per cent. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 760.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also bought equities to the tune of Rs 497.03 crore last Friday, provisional data showed. The markets in Japan, South Korea and China are closed for public holidays.

The US-China trade war remained in focus Monday, on reports that China had called off planned trade talks with the US in the wake of a new round of duties. In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average last Friday notched a second straight all-time high, but a slump in technology and internet-related stocks weighed on the broader market.