The benchmark Sensex plunged nearly 230 points and the NSE index Nifty was trading below the 10,000 mark due to heavy selling in realty, oil & gas, PSU and power stocks amid weak Asian cues.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices too were down 0.86 per cent and 0.95 per cent, respectively.

At 10.45 a.m., the 30-share BSE index was down 228.94 points or 0.71 per cent at 32,044.73 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 65.3 points or 0.65 per cent at 9,992.10.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index plunged the most by 2.26 per cent, followed by oil & gas 1.71 per cent, PSU 1.55 per cent and power 1.34 per cent, while only metal index was up 2.46 per cent.

Major Sensex losers were State Bank of India (-1.94%), Dr Reddy's (-1.53%), Kotak Bank (-1.52%), Coal India (-1.43%) and NTPC (-1.38%), while the top five gainers were Tata Steel (+3.67%), HU (+1.27%), Bajaj Auto (+0.73%), Cipla (+0.64%) and Tata Motors (+0.3%).

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 199.21 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 308.15 crore.

Early trade

The Sensex rose over 70 points as Tata Steel reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings. The benchmark BSE Sensex gained 70.10 points or 0.21 per cent to 32,343.77. It had lost 51.74 points in yesterday’s trade. The 50-share NSE index Nifty too rose by 25.20 or 0.25 per cent to 10,082.60.

Shares of Tata Steel rallied by 3.50 per cent to Rs 621 after the company yesterday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 921.09 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017.

Asian shares

Asian shares went flat on Tuesday as disappointing Chinese trade data clouded the otherwise upbeat outlook on global growth, leaving currencies and commodities becalmed in summer doldrums.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up modest early gains to be barely changed, though it was still within a whisker of its recent decade high.