Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Monday extended their losses and started trade in the red amid a broad sell-off across sectors.
At 10.45 am, the BSE Sensex, which had started the trade on a weak note, further declined 635 points to 59,010, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 202 points to 17,556.
On the 30-share Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies, and IndusInd Bank were the major losers. On the flip side, only three constituents were trading in the positive zone. ITC was the lead gainer. HUL and Dr Reddy's were the other two.
In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 slipped over 1 per cent.
All sectors dropped in negative zone with Nifty IT, Nifty Realty, and Nifty IT battered in trade.
Overall, the BSE Sensex stood negative as out of 30-share constituents, only three scrips were advancing, while the rest 27 were declining.
On specific stocks, shares of One97 Communications, which owns Paytm, increased 3.1 per cent after the company's shareholders decided to keep Vijay Shekhar Sharma in those positions despite recommendations from an investor advisory group for him to be fired.
"A weak opening for domestic equity market indices is on the cards on Monday, after the US markets continued their descent on Friday while other Asian peers too are displaying a sluggish to negative trend in today's early trade," Prashanth Tapse - research analyst, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities, had said in his pre-market opening comment.
In Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted in the green in mid-session deals. The Wall Street had ended lower on Friday.
In the previous session on Friday, the BSE benchmark had ended 651 points (1.08 per cent) lower at 59,646, while the Nifty declined 198 points (1.10 per cent) to settle at 17,758.
The international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.01 per cent lower at $95.74 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,110.90 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee gained 4 paise to 79.80 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday, supported by receding crude prices in global markets and weakness in the American currency overseas.
However, losses in the domestic stock markets weighed on the local unit and restricted the gain, forex traders said.