Sensex tanks over 1,000 points, Nifty slumps below 8,850

New Delhi: Equity benchmark Sensex plunged over 1,000 points near midsession on Monday dragged by losses in banking stocks.

The BSE Sensex was trading 1004.99 points or 3.23 percent lower at 30,092.74. Similarly, NSE Nifty slumped 291.75 points, or 3.19 per cent, to 8,845.10.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 25.16 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 31,097.73, and the broader Nifty slipped 5.90 points, or 0.06 per cent, to close at 9,136.85.

Only two stocks in the Sensex pack were trading in green. Infosys and ITC were the only gainers, rising 0.90 and 0.24 percent each. Major laggards were IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti, SBI, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Heromoto Corp and Kotak Bank, falling upto 8.91 percent.

Foreign portfolio investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,388.04 crore in the capital market on Friday, provisional exchange data showed.

Analysts believe that the Rs 20 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Bharat package is yet to provide the impetus to markets.

In the last set of measures, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced plans to privatise PSUs in non-strategic sectors and suspend loan default-triggered bankruptcy filings for one year, and also gave a Rs 40,000-crore hike in allocation for the rural employment guarantee scheme to provide jobs to migrant workers.

Further, the government last night extended the lockdown for two more weeks with the fourth phase providing more relaxations outside the containment zones.