Sensex down by 179 points in early trade

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost nearly 179 points in early trade today on heavy selling by funds, tracking melting global markets after the US Dow Jones closed at 12-year low level.

The 30-share index, which had lost 199.42 points in the previous session on Friday, fell by another 179.40 points to 8,663.81 points.

All the sectoral indices were trading in the negative zone with losses up to 3.13 per cent in early trade. The 50-share National Stock Exchange Nifty also fell by 49.85 points, or 1.81 per cent to 2,686.60. Markets were closed yesterday on account of Mahashivratri.

Stock brokers said most of the bluechip firms remained under pressure on sustained selling by funds as well as retail investors following sharp losses on the Asian markets after the US stocks slid to 12 years lows.

They said off-loading of positions ahead of expiry of February contract in the derivatives segment also put pressure on the stock prices.

Major losers, which dragged the Sensex down, are Reliance Industries, down by 2.10 per cent to Rs 1,227.25, Reliance Infra by 2.50 per cent to Rs 479, DLF Ltd by 4.68 per cent to Rs 147.80, SBI by 2.35 per cent to Rs 1,022, ICICI Bank by 4.54 per cent to Rs 320.70 and HDFC Bank by 2.88 per cent to Rs 842.

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