Sensex cracks 252 points; Nifty below 8,600-mark

The benchmark BSE Sensex dropped over 252 points and the broader NSE Nifty fell below the crucial 8,600-level in late morning trade today on heavy selling in IT, auto, capital goods, metal and realty stocks.

Sentiments remained cautious ahead of results of bluechip technology companies to be released tomorrow amid weak Asian cues despite index major Reliance Industries bettering street estimates in its fourth quarter results announced last week.

Besides, shares of mid-cap and small-cap firms witnessed hectic selling.

The 30-share index was quoting 28,189.17 at 1130 hours, showing a loss of 252.93 points, or 0.88%, from its last close.

The 50-share NSE Nifty also declined by 76.85 points, or 0.89%, at 8,529.15 at 1130 hours.

Major losers were Infosys at 2.52%, M&M (1.92%), Tata Motors (1.90%), Coal India (1.64%), Hero MotoCorp (1.46%), TCS (1.45%), HUL (1.40%) and Reliance Industries (1.28%).

Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 675.71 crore on last Friday, as per provisional data from stock exchanges.

Besides, Asian stocks traded lower on Wall Street on last Friday and the negative sentiment was triggered by a crackdown on margin lending in China.

Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were down by 0.03-0.42%.