MUMBAI: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tanked in early trade on Monday amid weak global trends and unabated foreign fund outflows.
Brent crude rising to USD 81 a barrel and a strong US jobs data that dampened early rate cut expectations also dented investors' sentiment.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 843.67 points to 76,535.24 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 258.8 points to 23,172.70.
From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Asian Paints, Zomato, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Steel were the major laggards.
IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Hindustan Unilever were the gainers.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.
US markets closed in the negative territory on Friday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,254.68 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Foreign investors have withdrawn Rs 22,194 crore from Indian equities so far this month.
"Market will continue to be under pressure from the many strong headwinds. The blow out jobs data from the US with 2.56 lakh job creation in December against expectations of 1.65 lakh means the rate cut expectations in 2025 is now down to one. With the unemployment in the US down to 4.1 per cent, the economy doesn't need any stimulus. This good economic news is turning out to be bad news for markets which were discounting many rate cuts this year.
"For India, the Brent crude rising to USD 81 is a concern. But the IIP data for November at 5.2 per cent indicates that the economy is recovering from the slowdown in Q2," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
India's industrial production (IIP) growth accelerated to a six-month high of 5.2 per cent year-on-year in November 2024, riding on the increased festive demand and pick up in manufacturing sector, according to the official data released on Friday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.62 per cent to USD 81.05 a barrel.
The BSE benchmark Sensex declined 241.30 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 77,378.91 on Friday. The Nifty dropped 95 points or 0.40 per cent to 23,431.50.