Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex extended its slide to dive over 645 points to trade at over 14-month low of 25,119.06 on persistent foreign fund outflows on weak global cues amid caution ahead of a US Jobs report. Sentiment was also dampened on fears of poor agriculture output as monsoon deficit widened, triggering selling activity, brokers said.
Selling by funds intensified, tracking global sell-off as investors await the release of a US jobs report for August that could determine the Federal Reserve's timetable for hiking interest rates.
The 30-share index, which slumped by 521 points in early trade, continued its slide to quote 645.72 points or 2.50 per cent down at 25,119.06 points during mid-session trade, its lowest level since July 2014. The gauge had gained 311.22 points in the previous days. All the sectoral indices led by realty, infrastructure and bankex plunged up to 4.15 per cent. The NSE Nifty, which cracked the crucial 7,700-mark in early trade, slipped further to trade 192.45 points, or 2.46 per cent down at 7,630.55. Among the 30-Sensex constituents, major losers that dragged down the key indices from their crucial levels were
Vedanta, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, GAIL, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, NTPC and SBI. Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei tumbled 2.15 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.45 per cent. European markets were also back in the red in their opening trade and fell by 1.52 per cent.
