Sensex plunges over 400 points as rupee breaches 72.50 mark

Mumbai: Markets nosedived in afternoon session on Monday after the rupee breached 72.50 mark against the US dollar for the first time ever amid weak Asian cues.

Rupee continued its free fall hitting a new low of 72.67 at 12.30 pm due to a strengthening dollar and widening trade deficit.

The 30-share index dropped 415.11 points, or 1.08 percent, to trade at 37,974.71 at 12.59 pm. The broader Nifty-50 index was also trading lower below 11,500 mark at 11,457.70, down 131.40 points, or 1.13 percent.

Heavy selling was witnessed in FMCG, telecom, consumer durables, finance, oil and gas, realty, power, metals, banks, energy, auto and utilities sectors.

Major losers were SBI, IndusInd Bank, Vedanta, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, RIL and HDFC falling up to 2.52 percent.

While, Wipro, NTPC, Axis Bank and Adani Ports bucked weak market trend, gaining up to 0.79 percent.

Most Asian markets were trading lower as trade tensions between the US and China remained in focus, China's trade surplus with the United States widened to a record in August. US stocks closed lower last Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending 0.31 percent lower.

With PTI Inputs