Sensex, Nifty plumb fresh five-month lows in global selloff

Mumbai - Rupee tanks 98 paise to 70.58 against the US dollar in morning trade.

Indian shares sank to a fresh five-month low, led by losses in metals and public sector bank stocks, following a global sell-off as investor fears were piqued by the escalating Sino-US trade war in the broader Asian markets.
The Chinese yuan broke below the psychological 7-per-dollar threshold after US President Donald Trump abruptly decided on Thursday to slap 10 per cent tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7 per cent.

The rupee hit its weakest level since Mid-May at 70.49 rupees per dollar.

The Sensex was down 582.64 points to 36,535.58 during the early trade after it opened over 270 points lower at 36,842.17.

Following a sharp revovery on Friday after news that the government might intervene to arrest the fall in the markets, the Sensex closed at 37,118.22.
However, no such announcement has been made as yet.

At 9.44am, the broader Nifty was trading 175.50 points or 1.60 per cent lower at 10,821.85.

It opened 98 points lower at 10,895.80 from its Friday's close of 10,997.35.

The super-rich tax has caused one of the worst ever outflow of foreign funds as it impacted the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs).

Besides the the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is widely expected to announced a rate cut amid a massive slow down in Indian economic activity.