Equity benchmarks continued to be hit hard on Monday, with the Sensex plummeting over 713 points in early trade after a sell-off in global markets and a fall in shares of index major Reliance Industries.
Unabated outflows of foreign funds and firm crude oil prices also continued to weigh on sentiment.
The 30-stock BSE Sensex fell 713.49 points in early trade to 54,122.09. The NSE Nifty also fell 248.7 points to 16,162.55.
Among the Sensex pack firms, the biggest laggards in early deals were Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and State Bank of India. Power Grid was the only winner among the 30 stock packages.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo and Korea traded lower while Shanghai traded marginally higher.
“Asian markets got off to a shaky start on Monday as US stock futures slipped early on interest rate concerns, while a tightening lockdown in Shanghai fueled concerns about global economic growth and a possible recession,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
The US stock exchanges fell on Friday.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent rose 0.46% to $112.92 a barrel.
Overseas institutional investors sold £5,517.08 billion worth of shares again on Friday, according to stock market data.
The Sensex fell 866.65 points, or 1.56%, to end Friday at 54,835.58.
The Nifty fell 271.40 points, or 1.63%, to settle at 16,411.25.
