MUMBAI: Falling for the eighth straight session, the BSE Sensex plunged over 311 points on Monday on heavy selling in banking, FMCG, IT, auto and pharma stocks amid sustained foreign fund outflows. The 30-share index settled 310.51 points, or 0.87 percent lower at 35,498.44. The broader NSE Nifty fell 83.45 points, or 0.78 percent, to 10,640.95.

Banking shares weakened after Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said he will meet heads of public and private sector banks this week to discuss the transmission of interest rate cuts to borrowers. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank cut the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percent to 6.25 percent. However, only a handful of banks, including SBI, have reduced their rates, that too by just 0.05 percent.

Top losers in the Sensex pack included TCS, Yes Bank, ITC, Sun Pharma, Reliance, Coal India, Asian Paints, SBI, Maruti, HUL, HCL Tech and ICICI Bank, falling up to 2.91 percent. ONGC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Vedanta, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and HDFC gained up to 1.48 percent.

Sectorally, BSE bankex, auto, FMCG, healthcare, metal and tech indices fell up to 1.36 percent. Only telecom and realty ended in the green, rising up to 0.88 percent.

Broader indices ended lower, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap falling up to 1.04 percent. The rupee, meanwhile, depreciated 21 paise to 71.44 against the US dollar (intra-day). Brent crude futures were trading 0.15 percent higher at USD 66.35 per barrel.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth a net Rs 966.43 crore on Friday, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 853.25 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.60 percent, Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.82 percent, Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.68 percent, while Korea's Kospi ended 0.67 percent higher. In the Eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX was down 0.27 percent, Paris CAC 40 fell 0.06 percent, and London's FTSE shed 0.27 percent in early deals.