Sensex opens 84 points down on foreign fund outflows, global cues

Mumbai: Indian shares continued their losing run as the benchmark BSE Sensex lost ground by over 84 points and the NSE Nifty cracked below the 7,700 mark in early trade as investors indulged in scaling down their bets, tracking weak global cues.

Moreover, renewed concerns over passing of key reform bills like GST too dampened sentiments.

The 30-share index was trading lower by 84.67 points or 0.33 percent at 25,225.66 with metal, realty, oil&gas, PSU, power, healthcare and IT stocks contributing to the fall.

The gauge has plunged by 860 points in the previous five sessions on sustained foreign fund outflows and worries over the passage of GST bill.

Also, Nifty dipped below the 7,700-mark by falling 24.05 points or 0.31 percent to 7,677.65.

Brokers said continued capital outflows by foreign funds and a weak trend in other Asian markets following overnight losses in the US equities amid a retreat in commodity-linked stocks due to weaker oil prices accelerated selling here.

Japan's Nikkei was down 0.52 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.41 percent in early trade today. Shanghai, however, was up by 0.52 percent in early trades.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.92 percent lower in yesterday's trade.