Sensex plunges over 500 points to open at 34,000; Nifty sheds 1.6% amid widespread sell-offs, global turmoil

Mumbai: Stocks suffered heavy losses in opening trade with the BSE Sensex dropping below the 34,000-mark by slumping about 564 points and Nifty sinking over 1.6 percent on widespread sell-off triggered by a rout in global equity markets. The BSE 30-share barometer dived 563.51 points, or 1.63 percent, to 33,849.65, wiping out its gains of 330.45 points in the previous session. All sectoral indices led by bankex, teck and IT slipped into the negative zone with losses of up to 1.76 percent down. [caption id=“attachment_4342983” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Getty Images.[/caption] The broad-based NSE Nifty was trading lower by 178.65 points, or 1.68 percent, at 10,398.20. Other Asian markets plunged up to 4.24 percent after Wall Street routed for the second time this week on worries over rising US interest rates. With the volatility continuing to hound equity markets, US index the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 4.2 percent, the broad-based S&P 500 plummeted 3.8 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index sank 3.9 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 3.62 percent, Japan’s Nikkei shed 3.22 percent, while Shanghai Composite Index down 4.24 percent in their late morning deals. Back home, ICICI Bank dropped the most by 2.75 percent, followed by ITC 1.9 percent, HDFC 1.85 percent, Axis Bank 1.66 percent and Larsen and Toubro 1.6 percent. Infosys, TCS, Reliance, HDFC BankKotak Bank, SBI IndusInd Bank Hindustan Unileverand Bharti Airtel also dropped up to 1.5 percent.