Sensex tanks 800 points this morning

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Wednesday amid uncertainty related to US-Iran negotiations, fresh spike in crude oil prices and persistent foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 800 points to 73,802 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 238 points to 23,244.

From the 30-Sensex firms, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, ITC and Eternal were among the biggest laggards.

IT stocks fell sharply amid profit-taking after rallying in the past few days.

Meanwhile, Maruti, Adani Ports, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel were the gainers from the blue-chip pack.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 0.89 per cent higher at USD 96.85 per barrel.

"The mild escalation in the West Asia conflict has again pushed up Brent crude price to close to USD 97 indicating no respite to India from the energy shock," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 8,362.92 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"At present, investor sentiment remains cautious and highly sensitive to incoming developments. The lack of tangible progress in US-Iran negotiations, elevated crude oil prices and continued foreign fund outflows continue to reinforce a risk-off environment," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth-tech firm, said.