Sensex tanks over 362 points; Nifty dips below 9,800-mark on North Korea tensions

New Delhi: The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by over 362 points on Tuesday due to across the spectrum selling led by power, banking and oil and gas stocks amid heightened geopolitical worries.

The 30-share Sensex opened lower and fell further by 362.43 points, or 1.14 percent, to 31,388.39.  It moved between 31,739.80 -31364.17 during intra-day trade.

The 50-share Nifty of NSE also fell below 9,800-level at 9,796.05, down by 116.75 points, or 1.18 percent.

Shares of telecom, power, financials, IT, Teck, FMCG, capital goods led the losses amid weak Asian cues.

Among index scrips, NTPC dropped the most by over 3 percent to Rs 168.05 apiece. The government is selling 5 percent of its stake in the power firm at a floor price of Rs 168 today.

HDFC lost 2.02 percent, while Axis Bank fell by 1.43 percent, Bharti Airtel by 1.40 percent and Coal India by 1.36 percent. HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen and Toubro and Hindustan Unilever fell up to 1 percent.

Shares of Infosys fell 1 percent on profit-booking after having risen nearly 8 percent in the last four sessions. The stock had gained more than 3 percent in the previous session, with co-founder Nandan Nilekani returning as chairman after the shock resignation of chief executive Vishal Sikka last week.

However, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd surged 7.7 percent on reports that renewable energy firm Greenko is in talks to buy the company`s electricity business in Mumbai.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 124.74 crore on net basis yesterday, showed provisional data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 476.26 crore.

World stocks tumbled and safe-haven assets jumped today after North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan, fuelling worries of fresh tension between Washington and Pyongyang.

Japan's Nikkei hit a four-month low before paring losses to end 0.5 percent down. South Korea`s Kospi, meanwhile, shed as much as 1.6 percent, helping to drag down MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan by 0.5 percent.