Sensex plunges 184 points

Failing to hold on to its early gains, the benchmark BSE Sensex plunged nearly 190 points, on the back of heavy selling in metal, PSU, auto and banking stocks amid weak European cues. Both the Sensex and Nifty were heading towards their biggest single-day loss in over two weeks, led by declines in lenders after State Bank of India's quarterly results disappointed investors. During mid-session, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was trading lower by 183.75 points or 0.65 per cent at 27,917.97 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was trading down by 52.6 points or 0.62 per cent at 8,473. The Sensex opened at 28,193.26 and hit a high of 28,205.12. However, it fell to a low of 27,825.83 before trading at 27,917.97, down 183.75 points at 2.35 pm local time. Top five Sensex gainers were Infosys (+2.36%), TCS (+1.08%), Cipla (+0.92%), Sun Pharma (+0.29%) and Maruti (+0.18%), while the major losers were Tata Steel (-5.3%), SBIN (-4.4%), Tata Motors (-3.95%), ICICI Bank (-2.74%) and Hindalco (-2.73%). Losses were seen across sectors with the exception of IT stocks, which held out on account of a weak Indian rupee, according to a news agency.
-SRS