Mumbai
Falling for the second straight session, the equity benchmark BSE Sensex on Monday lost over 180 points in morning trade after intense selling pressure witnessed in banking, auto and metal stocks despite firming trends in other Asian bourses.

The 30-share index declined by 180.50 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 35,845.04, after rising to 36,124.26 in early trade.The gauge had lost about 169 points in the previous session.

Besides weak corporate earnings for the third quarter, brokers said uncertainties over the high-level trade talks between the US and China impacted the investors’ sentiment.Maruti Suzuki India on Friday reported 17.21 per cent fall in its net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018.

Major losers that led the crash were ICICI Bank, YES Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, Maruti, Axis Bank, and HeroMotoCorp, falling up to 2.88 per cent. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 689.28 crore, and domestic institutional investors sold shares of Rs 147.35 crore on Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower at USD 61.36 per barrel, down by 0.45 per cent.