New Delhi: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Monday dragged down by Reliance Industries and cautious investors' sentiment ahead of the US presidential elections and Federal Reserve interest rate decision.
Relentless selling by foreign investors also dampened the sentiments in the equity market.
The BSE Sensex tumbled 665.27 points to 79,058.85 in early trade. The NSE Nifty tanked 229.4 points to 24,074.95.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Motors, Infosys, Titan, Maruti and NTPC were among the major laggards.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and IndusInd Bank were the gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 211.93 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Foreign investors pulled out a massive Rs 94,000 crore (around USD 11.2 billion) from the Indian stock market in October, making it the worst-ever month in terms of outflows, triggered by the elevated valuation of domestic equities and attractive valuations of Chinese stocks.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading higher.
The US markets ended in the positive territory on Friday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.49 percent to USD 74.19 a barrel.
Leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE conducted a one-hour special 'Muhurat Trading' session on the occasion of Diwali on November 1, marking the start of the new Samvat 2081.
The BSE benchmark climbed 335.06 points or 0.42 percent to settle at 79,724.12 in the special Muhurat trading session on Friday. The Nifty advanced 99 points or 0.41 percent to 24,304.35.
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