Equity benchmark Sensex tanked 871 points on Monday, dragged by a selloff in financial stocks as spiking COVID-19 cases spooked investors and fanned concerns over economic recovery.
After plunging over 1,400 points earlier in the day, the 30-share BSE index pared some losses to finish at 49,159.32, down 870.51 points or 1.74 %. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty sank 229.55 points or 1.54 % to 14,637.80.
Bajaj Finance was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, plunging around 6 %, followed by IndusInd Bank, SBI, M&M, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto and ICICI Bank.
On the other hand, HCL Tech, TCS and Infosys were among the gainers.
"The market witnessed a huge sell-off today as India's second wave of COVID-19 is getting bigger than anticipated and is expected to ruin the pace of economic recovery. High valuation added further concern due to a possible downgrade in Q1FY22 earnings," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
A policy decision in the upcoming MPC announcement and Q4 earnings will define the market volatility in the coming days, he added.
The rise in COVID-19 cases in India is a sobering reminder that challenges to recovery still remain, said Lalitabh Srivastava, AVP research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
The provisional numbers of key banks indicate a consolidating trend in terms of advances growth but encouraging performance on deposit and CASA front, he added.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note. Markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Australia were closed for holidays.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also closed.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 2.20 % lower at USD 63.43 per barrel.
