Recording their worst fall in the last two months, benchmark Sensex plunged 339 points and Nifty slipped 100 points on Monday due to sharp losses in Infosys, where co-founders sold about $1 billion worth shares, and other bluechips.
Shares of heavyweight Infosys fell by 4.88 per cent as families of four co-founders sold shares worth Rs 6,484 crore in the country's second largest software services firm. Its peers TCS and Wipro also witnessed selling pressure.
Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank lost about one and half per cent each. Metals pack, including Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel, slipped 2-3.6 per cent on reports of weak trade data of China, the world's biggest consumer of industrial metals.
Domestic market was also affected by concerns over slowing foreign capital inflows as strong US growth may prompt the US Federal reserve to speed up rate hikes, traders said.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs109.45 crore last Friday, as per provisional data.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed lower at 28,433.00 and hovered in a range of 28,494.85 and 28,097.12 before ending at 28,119.40, showing a loss of 338.07 points or 1.19 per cent. This is its biggest single-session loss since October 16 when it had dropped 349.99 points or 1.33 per cent.
Similarly, NSE 50-share Nifty fell 100.05 points, or 1.17 per cent, to finish below key 8,500-mark at 8,438.25. This is also its sharpest fall since 115.8-point drop on October 16.
Asian stocks ended mixed amid disappointing data from Japan and China. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea dropped by 0.21 per cent to 0.80 per cent while indices in Japan, China and Hong Kong rose by 0.21 per cent to 2.81 per cent.
European markets were trading lower as indices in France, Germany and UK declined by 0.44 per cent to 0.63 per cent.
Turning back to the domestic market, 23 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower while 7 finished higher.
Other major losers were Sesa Sterlite(3.60 per cent), M&M (3.32 per cent), Hindalco (2.51 per cent), TCS (2.51 per cent), Dr Reddy's lab (2.35 per cent), Tata Steel (2.01 per cent), BHEl (1.88 per cent) and l&T (1.72 per cent).
Tata Motors (1.71 per cent), Wipro (1.62 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.61 per cent), SBI (1.39 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.34 per cent) and RIl (1.34 per cent) also logged moderate losses.
However, Coal India rose by 2.20 per cent, followed by ITC 1.63 per cent, Sun Pharma 0.91 per cent, ONGC 0.63 per cent and Cipla 0.61 per cent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, IT tumbled by 3.18 per cent followed by Teck 2.58 per cent, Realty 1.80 per cent, Capital Goods 1.72 per cent, Consumer Durable 1.41 per cent, Auto 1.36 per cent, Power 1.34 per cent, Metal 1.31 per cent and Bankex 1.23 per cent.
Small-cap and Mid-cap indices also fell by 0.87 per cent and 1.22 per cent respectively due to selling pressure from retail investors.
Overall market breadth was negative as 1,797 counters finished in the red while 1,151 ended in green while 115 held steady. Total turnover fell to Rs3,165.91 crore today from Rs3,623.11 crore last Friday.