Dragged down by bank stocks, Sensex falls close to 700 points

The benchmark BSE Sensex slipped below the 34,000-mark, falling close to 700 points in trade today, extending Friday's losses as investors cut bets amid weak domestic sentiment and absence of Asian cues.

The drop was led by falls in Tata Steel, SBI, Reliance Industries and L&T. The gauge had lost 286.71 points on Friday.

The Nifty50 index also fell 223 points. Brokers said investors trimmed positions on distinctly weak sentiment since the detection of a massive Rs 11,400-crore fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). PNB shares fell 2.1 percent after declining 21 percent over the previous two sessions.

Other laggards were Tata Steel, SBI, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, M&M, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paint, Bajaj Auto, Yes Bank, ONGC, Coal India and Reliance Industries, falling up to 3.22 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued selling on domestic bourses. On net basis, they sold shares worth Rs 1,065.99 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases to the tune of Rs 1,127.78 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

Globally, in the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.33 per cent, while markets in Hong Kong and China remained shut today on account of a public holiday.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.08 per cent higher on Friday.