New Delhi: Sensex and Nifty, the key equity benchmarks, on Monday tumbled sharply in early trade, led by sell-off in global markets.


At 10.30 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 571 points to 54,263, while the broader NSE Nifty was down 165 points to 16,245.


On the BSE, only six stocks were trading in the positive zone, of which HCL Tech was leading the Sensex platform, with a rise of 1.41 per cent, followed by Infosys, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, and UltraCemco. On the flipside, IndusInd was the main loser (3.28 per cent). On the Nifty, Hindalco, JSW Steel, and Tata Motors were the additional losers.


In the broader markets, midcap and smallcap shares were in the red, as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 1.63 per cent and smallcap sank 1.74 per cent, respectively.


On NSE, all of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the red. Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Consumer Durables, and Nifty IT were underperforming the index by falling as much as 1.82 per cent, 1.81 per cent and 1.72 per cent, respectively.


Due to highly volatility in the market, India VIX soared 4.5 per cent to cross 22 levels.


According to exchange data, overall market breadth stood shaky on Monday as 782 shares were advancing while 890 were declining on the BSE.


In the previous trading on Friday, Sensex tanked 867 points (1.56 per cent) to close at 54,836, while Nifty had moved 271 points (1.63 per cent) down to end at 16,411.


In the currency market, rupee hit a record low of 77.17 against USD during opening of the market.


In the Asian markets, Tokyo and Korea were trading lower, while Shanghai traded marginally higher.


“Asian markets got off to a shaky start on Monday as US stock futures took an early skid on rate worries, while a tightening lockdown in Shanghai stoked concerns about global economic growth and possible recession,” told Deepak Jasani, head of retail research, HDFC Securities.


In the US, stock exchanges had fallen on Friday.


Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.46 per cent to $112.92 per barrel.


According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) again offloaded shares worth Rs 5,517.08 crore on Friday.