Sensex plunges 788 points and Nifty finishes below 12,000; bank, financials, auto bleed. The BSE Sensex eventually closed at 787.98 points, or 1.90 per cent, down at 40,676.63, while the Nifty50 settled 234 points, or 1.91 per cent, down at 11,993.05. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 2.31 per cent and 1.96 per cent, respectively.

Sensex extended early losses on Monday as oil prices continued to surge over worries of a supply disruption. Sensex fell nearly 700 points while the fear index, VIX shot up 17 per cent owing to the events unfolding after a US drone attack.

At 12.37 pm, Sensex was down 633 points at 40,830.72. It opened at 41,378.34 from its previous close of 41,464.61. The broader Nifty slipped 195.55 points or 1.60 per cent to 12,031.10.

Except for IT stocks, which benefited from the sharp decline in the value of rupee against the US dollar, all other sectoral stocks traded with heavy losses.

The Indian rupee lost over 25 paise against the US dollar and surpassed the Rs 72 a dollar mark on Friday.

Meanwhile the prices of safe haven assets continued to edge up. Gold prices on Friday touched a record high of Rs 41,030 per 10 gram (February gold futures).

Indian markets felt the jitters of the escalating tensions between the two biggest oil producing countries Iran and the US. The benchmark Sensex fell over 530 points during the early trade on Monday as the Brent climbed over 2 per cent to $70 a barrel. Meanwhile, prices of safe haven assets also skyrocketed over fears of further military escalation.

Gold prices hit Rs 41,330 per 10 gram on Friday, hitting its highest level.

Indo-Asian News Service