Equity benchmark indices dived during early hours on Monday tracking weak Asian markets as fear of the second wave of COVID-19 related cases in China sparked worries among investors that it will delay the economic recovery.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 363 points or 1.07 per cent at 33,418 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 94 points or 0.94 per cent at 9,879.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty private bank down by 1.9 per cent and pharma up by 1.2 per cent.
Among stocks, private banks were in the red with IndusInd Bank down by 4.2 per cent at Rs 506.35 per share. Axis Bank slipped by 2 per cent, ICICI Bank by 1.9 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 1.8 per cent and HDFC Bank by 1.7 per cent.
Steel majors Tata Steel and JSW Steel were down by 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively. Utility major NTPC along with Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance too traded with a negative bias,
However, those who gained marginally were Dr Reddy's, Cipla, Wipro, Infosys, Hindalco and Britannia.
Meanwhile, Asian markets opened in the red and oil prices tumbled as caution prevailed globally with the second wave of Covid-19 being expected as China closes down select wholesale markets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 0.3 per cent with South Korea easing by 0.3 per cent and Japan's Nikkei faltering by 0.7 per cent.
Chinese shares opened in the red with the blue-chip CSI300 index down 0.1 per cent.
( With inputs from ANI )