Sensex plunges over 650 points, Nifty drops below 9,100

NEW DELHI: Equity indices started on a weak note on Tuesday with the benchmark BSE sensex falling over 650 points in morning trade dragged by banking, financial stocks amid weak global cues.
The 30-share BSE index plunged 666 points or 2.11 per cent to trade at 30,895; while the broder NSE Nifty was trading 184 points or 2 per cent lower at 9,055.
Asian Paints, Maruti, HDFC twins, Axis Bankm Hindustan Unilever and ICICI Bank were the top losers in the sensex pack falling over 3.58 per cent.
While Ultra Cemco, Sun Pharma, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, NTPC and Titan were the major gainers, rising as much as 0.89 per cent.
According to traders, weak cues from global markets on fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections spooked investors across Asia.
After weeks of no new cases, Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the outbreak first emerged, reported six new infections in two days and South Korea announced its biggest spike in new cases in more than a month.
In the previous session, sensex tumbled over 800 points from the day's high to end at 31,561.22, down 81.48 points or 0.26 per cent. Likewise, the NSE barometer Nifty fell over 220 points from its day's peak to close at 9,239.20, dropping 12.30 points or 0.13 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors purchased equities worth Rs 534.87 crore in the capital market on Monday, provisional exchange data showed.
India's retail inflation data is also due to be announced later in the day.
According to health ministry data, the total number of coronavirus cases spiked to over 70,750 in India with over 2,290 deaths.
(With agency inputs)