Sensex dips 839 pts as China border tensions flare up

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks' six-session rally came to a juddering halt on Monday as a flare-up in India-China border tensions hammered investor sentiment.

Profit-booking after the recent rally and a depreciating rupee further weighed on the bourses, traders said.

The BSE Sensex, which made a strong start and touched the 40,000-mark in the morning session, surrendered all gains and plummeted over 1,600 points from the day's high.

It finally ended at 38,628.29, down 839.02 points or 2.13 per cent.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty tanked 260.10 points or 2.23 per cent to end at 11,387.50.

In a fresh incident in eastern Ladakh, the Chinese army carried out "provocative military movements" to "unilaterally" change the status quo on the southern bank of Pangong lake on the intervening night of August 29-30, but the attempt was thwarted by the Indian troops, the Army said on Monday.

It was the first major incident involving the two sides after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers were killed.

Investors were also cautious ahead of the release of GDP data, traders said.

Sun Pharma was the top loser in the Sensex pack, plunging 7.34 per cent, followed by SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, M&M and Maruti.

Only ONGC and TCS ended in the green, rising up to 1.74 per cent.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.48 per cent higher at $46.49 per barrel. The rupee pared its early gains and settled 21 paise down at 73.60 against the US dollar.