A global sell-off on the back of heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine heavily dented India's key indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- on Monday.
Accordingly, the two indices witnessed their sharpest percentage fall in 10 months.
In the initial part of trading, east Asian stocks slid and commodities, including crude oil, surged as geopolitical risks over Ukraine rippled through global markets.
The Brent-indexed Crude oil prices crossed $96 per barrel, the highest in seven years. Notably, Russia is one of the world's top producers of Crude oil.
Besides, selling pressure from FIIs hammered the Indian equities.
The FIIs were net sellers on BSE, NSE and MSEI in the capital market segment, selling Rs 4,253.70 crore on Monday.
Even the decline in domestic industrial production for December 2021, as shown by official data released last Friday, added to the downward trend.
European shares slipped to their lowest level in 20 days on Monday, with travel, banking and auto stocks leading the slump.
On the domestic front, volumes on the NSE were a little bit higher than the recent average.
All sectoral indices ended in the red with realty, metals, banks, power, capital goods and auto indices losing the most.
Consequently, the Sensex ended at 56,405.84 points, down 3 per cent or 1,747.08 points from its previous close. Nifty closed the day's trade at 16,842.80 points, down 3.06 per cent or 531.95 points from its previous close.
"Nifty remains under pressure due to rising Crude oil prices, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, fear of fast rate hikes across the globe and subdued corporate results," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
"Any relief on the Russia-Ukraine front could result in a temporary bounce, which can be sold into," he added.
According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services: "Nifty has corrected 8 per cent from its recent peak of 18,350 levels on the back of inflationary concern and ongoing geo-political issues between Russia and Ukraine. Till the time the global uncertainty continues, market volatility is expected to remain on the higher side."
Vinod Nair, Research Head at Geojit Financial Services, said: "Increased tension between the US and Russia over Ukraine sent oil prices rising and forced investors to dump risky assets.
"Risk sentiment was further dampened ahead of the Fed's emergency meeting which heightened fears of aggressive monetary tightening."
Source : IANS