Nifty below 11,000-mark, Sensex down 230 points ahead of F&O expiry (Lead)
Investors turned cautious ahead of the September futures and options (F&O) contracts expiry.
The indices however opened in the green as the rupee appreciated earlier after the government raised the import duty on 19 non-essential items on Wednesday in order to arrest its fall and to curb the widening current account deficit.
Almost all the sectors were under selling pressure led by finance banking and healthcare stocks. However IT stocks gained due to a weakening rupee. At 1.34 p.m. rupee traded around 72.72 per US dollar against the previous close of 72.61.
Index-wise the NSE Nifty50 traded at 10 965.45 points (1.34 p.m.) lower by 88.35 points or 0.80 per cent from the previous close.
The BSE Sensex which had opened at 36 691.93 points traded at 36 308.70 points down 233.57 points or 0.64 per cent from the previous close of 36 542.27 points.
So far it has touched an intra-day high of 36 711.62 points and a low of 36 255.73.
--IANS ravi-rrb/mr