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

Mumbai, Mar 15 (PTI) 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.
The 30-share barometer, which gained 265.39 points in the
previous session, tanked 486.88 points, or 2.64 per cent, 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 per cent.
In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock
Exchange Nifty index lost 150.55 points, or 2.79 per cent, to
5,380.95 points.
The trading sentiment on the domestic bourses turned
extremely weak large after the Japanese Nikkei tumbled by over
10 per cent 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 per cent, while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng was down 3.88 per cent in morning trade
today. The US's Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.43 per
cent down in yesterday's session.