The Sensex and Nifty were trading down by nearly one per cent as North Korea has threatened to conduct another hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean.

Fall in rupee to a four-month low on heavy capital outflows over expectations of rate hike by the US Federal Reserve came as a dampener to the market sentiment.

According to brokers, weak Asian cues after China’s sovereign rating was downgraded by agency on fears over its ballooning debt and sustained foreign fund outflows, too hit the domestic sentiment.

At 12.05 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 261.84 points or 0.81 per cent at 32,108.20 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 103.50 points or 1.02 per cent at 10,018.40.

All BSE sectoral indices were trading in the negative zone. Among them, metal index plunged 2.27 per cent, followed by realty 1.85 per cent, oil & gas 1.55 per cent and capital goods 1.49 per cent.

Top five Sensex losers were ICICI Bank (-2.23%), Tata Steel (-1.83%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.81%), Infosys (-1.7%) and Reliance (-1.68%), while the major gainers were Tata Motors (+1.6%), Cipla (+0.94%), Sun Pharma (+0.88%), Wipro (+0.43%) and ITC (+0.43%).

As per provisional data, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,204.95 crore yesterday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,416.55 crore.

Asian stocks fell on the mooted possibility of North Korea conducting another hydrogen bomb test, this time in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said today that he believes the North Korea could consider a nuclear test on an “unprecedented scale” in the Pacific Ocean, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.