Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty experienced a sharp decline in early trading on Monday, mirroring the global market's significant weakness due to concerns about a potential slowdown in the US economy and foreign fund outflows.
In the early trading session, the 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted by 2,401.49 points to reach 78,580.46. Similarly, the NSE Nifty dropped by 489.65 points to 24,228.05.
Tata Motors, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Adani Ports, Maruti, and Reliance Industries were among the biggest underperformers in the Sensex pack.
On a positive note, Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever showed upward movement in their trading.
Amidst the global market turmoil, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong saw substantial declines, while Shanghai witnessed a rise.
The US markets closed significantly lower at the end of the week.
"The rally in the global stock markets has been driven mainly by consensus expectations of a soft landing for the US economy. This expectation is now under threat with the fall in US job creation in July and the sharp rise in the US unemployment rate to 4.3 per cent. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East also are a contributing factor," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,310 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"Anxiety remains high, especially after Friday's unexpectedly weak US July jobs report, suggesting that volatility will be the hallmark of the day," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.35 per cent to USD 77.08 a barrel.
Amid widespread selling pressure, the BSE benchmark plunged 885.60 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 80,981.95 on Friday. The broader Nifty of NSE dropped 293.20 points or 1.17 per cent to end at 24,717.70.
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