 "Tata Steel")
The Sensex plunged 525 points while the Nifty finished below the 17,400-mark on Monday, reflecting the sombre mood in global markets ahead of a flurry of central bank meetings which are expected to provide cues on the imminent tapering of massive stimulus measures.
A sharp drop in the rupee added to the woes, traders said, adding that worries over the fate of Chinese real estate major Evergrande and its impact on the world's second largest economy pulled down global commodity prices.
Sliding for the second consecutive session, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 524.96 points or 0.89 per cent lower at 58,490.93.
The broader NSE Nifty tumbled 188.25 points or 1.07 per cent to close close at 17,396.90.
Tata Steel was the top loser on the Sensex chart, crashing 9.53 per cent, followed by SBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Dr Reddy's, M&M and UltraTech Cement.
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The HDFC twins and Tata Steel accounted for over half of the benchmark's losses.
In contrast, HUL, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, HCL Tech, Nestle India, Bajaj Finance and RIL managed to close in the green, climbing up to 2.84 per cent.
Investors lost over Rs 3.49 lakh crore in Monday's session, with the market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies standing at Rs 2,55,47,063.52 crore at close of trade.
"Indian markets finally seem to be taking a small pause, largely driven by nervousness in the global markets," said Milind Muchhala, Executive Director, Julius Baer.
"Two key factors playing on the minds of global investors include the upcoming Fed meeting and the uncertainty building up in the Chinese real estate market due to stress on one of the major property players in the country," he added.
While the markets are keenly awaiting clarity on Fed's taper plans in terms of timelines and quantum, we believe it may give an advance notice on tapering in this week's meeting, followed by a formal announcement at the following meeting in November, he stated.
S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities, said, "As global markets corrected fearing the contagion around the Chinese developer, risk aversion was seen across markets. Barring the FMCG pack, the market breadth was extremely weak with sectoral indices trading in the red."
Sectorally, BSE metal, basic materials, realty, power and utilities indices tanked up to 7.19 per cent, while FMCG closed with gains.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices plunged as much as 1.84 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng ended over 3 per cent lower, dragged by Evergrande which plummeted to more than 10-year lows. Bourses in China, Japan and South Korea were closed for holidays.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading with steep losses in mid-session deals.
All eyes are on the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting beginning Tuesday. A total of 16 central banks are slated to hold meetings this week, including those in the UK and Japan.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.92 per cent to USD 73.89 per barrel.
The Indian rupee skidded 26 paise to close at 73.74 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking a strong American currency in the overseas market.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
