Sensex cracks over 746 points as Brent falls below $53/bbl

Sustaining heavy losses due to negative global cues, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets plunged over  740 points in the afternoon trade session Tuesday. Market analysts cited that the fall in Indian markets was due to heavy corrections in crude oil prices and investor concerns over a potential Greek exit of the Eurozone. All the sectors of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) were trading in the red. Heavy selling pressure was observed in banking, automobile, capital goods, healthcare, metal, oil and gas, information technology (IT) and consumer durables sectors. [caption id=“attachment_2029249” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI image[/caption] The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P BSE, which opened at 27,694.23 points, was trading at 27,268.99 points (at 12.10 p.m.), down 573.33 points or 2.06 percent from the previous day’s close at 27,842.32 points. The Sensex had touched a high of 27,698.93 points and a low of 27,213.37 points in the trade so far. The S&P bank index plunged by 423.27 points, automobile index fell by 351.38 points, capital goods index dropped by 282.92 points, healthcare index was lower by 278.52 points, metal index dropped by 257.68 points. The S&P oil and gas index went down by 240.83 points, IT index dipped by 183.35 points and consumer durables index slid by 136.18 points. The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading 182.80 points or 2.18 percent down at 8,195.60 points. IANS