The spread of the Omicron type of Coronavirus shook investors' confidence, causing the Indian market indexes to open with a gap down. The benchmark BSE Sensex plummeted at 1,330 points, while the Nifty 50 index plunged below 16,600, a key psychological level.
The Sensex was down 1,330 points at 55,681 at 11:02 am, and the Nifty 50 index was down 403 points, or 2.37 percent, to 16,582.
The surge in Omicron cases spurred stricter controls in Europe and swamped the global economy into the New Year, sending Asian stock markets lower and oil prices lower on Monday.
According to the media agency Reuters, futures on the S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent, while Nasdaq futures fell nearly 1 percent. The EUROSTOXX 50 futures fell 1.1 percent, while the FTSE futures fell 1%. Chinese blue chips were still down 0.4 percent, while the MSCI Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan was down 0.8 percent. The Nikkei in Japan fell 1.7 percent, while South Korean markets fell 1.2 percent.
On Monday, the Nifty 50 basket was trading down 48 points, driven by a 4 percent drop in Bajaj Finance. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Motors, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Hindalco, and Bajaj Finserv were also down between 2.5 percent and 3.6 percent.
On the other side, Cipla and Sun Pharma were among the notable gainers.
Similarly, on the BSE, the overall market breadth was extremely bearish, with 2,389 shares decreasing and 568 gainings.