Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices fell sharply in early trade on Monday, with the Sensex falling 826 points amid a weak trend in global share markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark tumbled 825.61 points to 57,365.68. The broader NSE Nifty fell 249.95 points to 17,064.70. Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest laggards.
On the other hand, Power Grid was the only gainer.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading with losses.
The US markets ended significantly lower on Friday.
"The paradoxical construct of good economic news turning out to be bad news for markets played out again last Friday in the US. The surprisingly low US unemployment rate at 3.5 per cent implies that the Fed will have to continue raising interest rates longer than the markets had discounted," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
For the near-term, equity markets will be in uncertain territory with a downward bias, he added.
"The big question is whether India would continue to outperform," Vijayakumar noted.
The BSE benchmark had declined 30.81 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 58,191.29 on Friday. The Nifty dipped 17.15 points or 0.10 per cent to end at 17,314.65.
Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.87 per cent to USD 97.05 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 2,250.77 crore on Friday, according to data available with BSE.
"The solid US September jobs report suggests that the Federal Reserve remains on track to lift interest rates aggressively. Investors now look ahead to the monthly Consumer Price Index report amid fears that higher energy prices could fuel inflationary pressure," Prashanth Tapse – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
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