Sensex tumbles over 648 points in early trade; Nifty falls below 17,000

Benchmark equity indices continued to remain weak on Monday, with the Sensex tumbling over 648 points in early trade, tracking selling in index majors Infosys, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank along with muted global trends.

The 30-share BSE benchmark was trading 648.25 points lower at 56,412.62. The NSE Nifty declined 185.3 points to 16,917.25.

From the Sensex pack,Titan, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Maruti and Bajaj Finserv were the early laggards.

In contrast, IndusInd Bank, NTPC and Axis Bank were the gainers.

Asian markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading lower in mid-session deals.

Stocks in the U.S. had ended significantly lower on Friday.

“Asian markets are trading negative in the early Monday trade. Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand are closed on Monday for public holidays,” said Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS, Hem Securities.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.87% to $106.21 per barrel.

The BSE benchmark plummeted 460.19 points or 0.80% to end at 57,060.87 on Friday. The Nifty tanked 142.50 points or 0.83% to 17,102.55.

Foreign institutional investors again offloaded shares worth ₹3,648.30 crore on Friday after they turned net buyers on Thursday, according to stock exchange data.

“The excessive volatility in the market is likely to continue for some time. The sharp sell-off in US markets on Friday is an indication of the nervousness and fear in the market caused by an increasingly hawkish Fed, rising dollar index and the prolonging war in Ukraine,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.