Sensex tanks 486 points in early trade on major sell-off

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex plunged by over 486 points in opening trade today, dragged down by a massive sell-off amid huge losses on other Asian bourses.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex plunged by over 486 points in opening trade on Tuesday, dragged down by a massive sell-off amid huge losses on other Asian bourses.

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The 30-share barometer, which gained 265.39 points in the previous session, tanked 486.88 points, or 2.64%, to below the psychological 18,000 points level at 17,952.60, with all sectoral indices trading in the negative zone with losses up to 2.73%.

In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index lost 150.55 points, or 2.79%, to 5,380.95 points.

The trading sentiment on the domestic bourses turned extremely weak large after the Japanese Nikkei tumbled by over 10% amid fears of a meltdown at a nuclear power plant, brokers said.

Overnight losses in the US market also dampened the sentiment, they added.

Japan's Nikkei was down by 10.11%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 3.88% in morning trade on Tuesday. The US's Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.43% down in Monday's session.