The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex tanked almost 362 points in opening trade on Monday in line with the meltdown in overseas markets on concerns over Europe?s sovereign debt crisis.
The 30-share index, which had lost 271.27 points in the previous session, plunged further by 361.77 points, or 2.12 per cent to 16,637.42 points.
All the sectoral indices, led by oil and gas, metals realty and banking, were trading in the negative zone.
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The wide?based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped below 5,000 points to trade 101.80 points, or almost 2 per cent down at 4,991.70.
Marketmen said investors resorted to heavy selling after a steep fall in the U.S. market on Friday and weak opening on Asian stock markets in the morning trade on Monday.
Besides, disappointing quarter earnings by some companies also put pressure on the trading sentiment, they added.
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Among prominent losers Reliance Industries fell by 2.26 per cent to Rs.1,020, Rcom by 1.59 per cent to Rs. 142.20, Reliance Infra by 3.08 per cent to Rs. 994, Infosys Technologies by 2.01 per cent to Rs. 2,603.50, Wipro by 3.08 per cent to Rs. 646.75, Sterlite Industries by 2.18 per cent to Rs. 686.10, Tata Steel by 3.28 per cent to Rs. 530.55 and State Bank of India by 2.47 per cent to Rs. 2,167.70.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.51 per cent lower in the previous session on Friday.