Benchmark stock indices opened the week on a muted note on Monday, with the Sensex plunging nearly 483 points due to selling in IT, capital goods and banking shares amid losses in global equities.
The Sensex tanked 482.61 points or 0.81 per cent to settle at 58,964.57. During the day, it tumbled 552.78 points or 0.92 per cent to 58,894.40.
The 50-issue Nifty declined by 109.40 points or 0.62 per cent to finish at 17,674.95 as 29 of its stocks declined.
From the Sensex pack, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Asian Paints, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank were the major laggards.
In contrast, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers. TCS is scheduled to announce its financial results later in the day.
"The market is wary ahead of the ECB meeting, the release of US inflation data, and the start of the domestic Q4 result season," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
Global stock markets were also down due to concerns over inflation, expectations of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve and weak growth due to geopolitical situation.
The US Fed officials have indicated that they are considering raising the benchmark rate by double the normal amount at upcoming meetings.
They also indicated they may shrink the Fed's bond holdings, which might push up commercial borrowing rates.
In Asia, markets in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo ended lower. European stock markets were also trading lower due to sell-off in technology stocks. Stocks in the US ended mostly lower on Friday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2. 38 per cent to USD 100.3 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors continued to offload shares worth Rs 575.04 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
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