Sensex sinks 287 points, PNB falls for 3rd day

Giving up early gains, benchmark Sensex tumbled 287 points to end at 34,010.76 today on widespread selling in auto, metal, PSU, capital goods, realty and banking counters.

Shares of Punjab National Bank continued to reel under selling pressure for the third consecutive day after the detection of a massive Rs 11,400-crore fraud. It ended lower by 2.10 per cent.

The BSE 30-share barometer, after a robust start, advanced to a high of 34,508.24 in morning trade.

However, it succumbed to across-the-board profit-booking in the later part of the session to touch a low of 33,957.33, before settling 286.71 points, or 0.84 per cent down at 34,010.76.

The NSE Nifty settled the day 93.20 points or 0.88 per

cent lower at 10,452.30 after shuttling between 10,612.90 and 10,434.05.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 240.29 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 49.92 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Sentiment turned weak after the country's trade gap soared to USD 16.3 billion in January on account of a 26.1 per cent increase in imports to USD 40.68 billion due to increased inbound shipments of crude oil, as per data released by the commerce ministry.

India's exports grew by 9 per cent to USD 24.38 billion in January, helped by a healthy growth in shipments of chemicals, engineering goods and petroleum products.