Sensex plunges by 197 pts in early trade

The 30-share Sensex, which had lost over 300 points on Friday, dropped further by 196.95 points at 13,711.63.

Tracking global trend, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday plunged by nearly 197 points on heavy selling in blue-chip stocks like ICICI Bank and Reliance industries.

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The 30-share Sensex, which had lost over 300 points on Friday, dropped further by 196.95 points at 13,711.63 as index-heavy ICICI Bank plunged 7.5 per cent on equity dilution concerns.

With the effect, the BSE banking index dropped 3.5 per cent while shares of Punjab National Bank declined 3.5 per cent, and HDFC Bank and State Bank of India lost 2 per cent.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 45.05 points at 4,038.45.