Benchmark equity indices opened the week subdued on Monday, with the Sensex plunging nearly 483 points on selling in IT, capital goods and banking stocks amid losses in global equities.
The Sensex tanked 482.61 points, or 0.81%, to settle at 58,964.57. On the day, it fell 552.78 points, or 0.92%, to 58,894.40.
The 50-issue Nifty fell 109.40 points, or 0.62%, to 17,674.95 as 29 of its shares fell.
From the Sensex package, the biggest laggards were Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Asian Paints, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank.
Conversely, gainers included ICICI Bank, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and UltraTech Cement.
TCS is expected to report its financial results later in the day.
“The market is cautious ahead of the ECB meeting, the release of the United States inflation data and the start of the domestic Q4 earnings season,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
Global equity markets also fell on inflation concerns, expectations of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve and weak growth due to the geopolitical situation.
Federal Reserve officials have indicated they are considering raising interest rates by twice the usual amount at upcoming meetings. They also hinted that they could reduce the Fed’s bond holdings, which could push commercial lending rates higher.
In Asia, markets in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo closed lower. European equity markets also traded lower on the sell-off in technology stocks. Stocks in the US mostly closed lower on Friday.
International oil benchmark Brent Crude fell 2.38% to $100.3 a barrel.
Overseas institutional investors continued to sell shares worth 575.04 crore, according to stock market data on Friday.
