At 14:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 718 points or 1.44% at 49,082.19. The Nifty 50 index slipped 202.75 points or 1.38% at 14,518.
A combination of increasing domestic COVID-19 cases, high crude oil prices and rising US bond yields hurt investors' sentiment. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note hovered at 1.728%.
In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index tumbled 1.63% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 2.1%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 655 shares rose and 2260 shares fell. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
With a huge spike of 35,871 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily rise since early December, India continues to see a surge in Covid caseload. The government yesterday said a total of 70 districts in 16 states have seen an increase of more than 150% in active cases between March 1 and 15.
India reported 2,52,364 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,59,216 deaths while 1,10,63,025 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 12,11,58,726 with 26,80,220 deaths.
Losers in Broader Market:
Info Edge (down 5.72%), Bank of India (down 5.69%), GMR Infra (down 5.34%), Honeywell Automation (down 4.7%) and Ashok Leyland (down 4.19%) were top losers in BSE Mid Cap index.
Infibeam Avenues (down 12.4%), Windsor Machines (down 9.48%), Elecon Engineering (down 9.16%), Saregama India (down 8.77%) and Banco Products (down 8.6%) were top losers in BSE Small Cap index.
Numbers to Track:
In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2021 settlement fell 78 cents to $67.22 a barrel. The contract fell 0.57% to settle at $68 a barrel in the previous session.
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.222% as compared to its previous close of 6.185%.
In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee remained unchanged at 72.55
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2021 settlement rose 0.37% to Rs 45,008.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.18% to 91.6.
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