 "Markets remain weak, Metal & Capital Goods shares drag")
By 1015, Sensex plunged by 128 points at 18,790, and the Nifty down 45 points or 0.76% at 5,676 levels.
On the global front, US share indices firmed up on Friday on the back of better-than-expected US manufacturing data and consumer sentiment indicating signs of an economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 35 points at 14,090. S&P 500 ended gained 4 points at 1,518 and Nasdaq Composite ended up 10 points at 3,170.
Asian shares eased on Monday, with sentiment hurt by a patchy global growth outlook and weak data from Europe, but losses were limited as robust US economic figures overshadowed worries about automatic spending cuts hurting the US economy.
Back home, the rupee today weakened by 16 paise to trade at nearly two-month low of 55.05 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to increased demand for the US currency from oil importers.
BSE Metal, Capital Goods, Power, Realty and FMCG indices have slumped by nearly 2% each followed by counters like PSU, Consumer Durable, Auto, Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Banks, all declining by 1% each. Apart from IT, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in red zone.
The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Sterlite, JSPL, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, GAIL, Tata Steel and ITC, all falling down between 2-3%.
Shares in Reliance Industries gained 0.2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "underweight" and raises its target price to Rs 961 from Rs 798.
Shares of state-owned oil marking companies (OMC) are trading higher 1-2% in an otherwise weak market after these companies hiked petrol price by Rs 1.40 per litre from Friday midnight.
A rise in international oil prices and depreciation in rupee has led to Rs 1.40 per litre increase in price of petrol with effect from March 2, said a statement by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Among the individual stocks, BPCL is up around 2% at Rs 393, followed by IOC (1.4% at Rs 303) and HPCL (1.3% at Rs 306) on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
NHPC, the state-owned power producer, has tanked almost 23% to Rs 19.45 in morning trades, extending its over 10% Friday’s fall, on back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Minerals and Metals Trading Corp Ltd (MMTC) has plunged 6.4% to Rs 381 on reports that government is planning to offload its over 9% stake in trading giant through Offer for Sale (OFS).
The broader indices have been battered more as compared to benchmarks – BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down over 1%.
The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,313 shares declining and 544 shares advancing.