As fears of a potential recession in the United States drove investors away from risk assets, Sensex opened Monday's session over 2,400 points lower while Nifty slipped below 24,300-level due to selling in heavyweights.
Meanwhile, the market capitalisation of all listed companies on BSE declined by Rs 10.24 lakh crore to Rs 446.92 lakh crore.
During the early trade, Sensex slipped below the Budget-day low of 79,224. Meanwhile, Nifty50 slipped below its 20-DMA to register its biggest single-day decline in over two months.
Nifty Bank, on the other hand, fell below its 50-DMA as all major sectoral indices were sitting in the red. The fall was sharper in smaller and midcap stocks.
"The rally in the global stock markets has been driven mainly by consensus expectations of a soft landing for the US economy. This expectation is now under threat with the fall in US job creation in July and the sharp rise in US unemployment rate to 4.3%," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar of Geojit Financial.
Rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, unwinding of the Yen carry trade are other headaches.
Here's why Sensex and Nifty are falling today:
1. Fear of recession in US
Fears of a U.S. recession intensified after data released post-market hours on Friday showed that job growth in July slowed more than expected.
The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by just 114,000 jobs last month, falling short of the 175,000 expected and well below the 200,000 jobs needed to keep pace with population growth. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.3%, nearing a three-year high.
MORE TO COME....