Which stock market indices sank the most in Monday mayhem?

Indian stock markets slumped as much as 3% on Monday, falling for a fifth straight session as investors turned cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting and a continued selloff in US technology stocks.

High Covid-19 cases and caution ahead of the Union Budget as well as the monthly derivatives expiry also played spoilsport. Overall, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty have declined nearly 6.5% in the past five sessions.

The BSE benchmark Sensex opened flat at 59,023.97 but fell more than 2,000 points in intra-day trade to 56,984.01 points before pulling back to end 2.6% lower at 57,491.51. The Nifty50 also opened flat but subsequently fell below 17,000 to 16,997.85, before paring the losses to close at 17,149.10.

All the 30 Sensex stocks were in the red. These were led by Bajaj Finance and Tata Steel, which clocked a loss of nearly 6% each. IT stocks Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Infosys and TCS were down by as much as 5.2%. Heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 4%.

IndusInd Bank and state-run transmission utility Power Grid fell the least, by about 0.5% each.

On the 50-stock Nifty, only two stocks managed to end in the green--drugmaker Cipla and state-run ONGC.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets were mixed with Australia and Hong Kong falling while Tokyo and Taiwan were higher and Shanghai was flat as investors awaited the outcome of the US Fed meeting that begins Tuesday.

Worst-hit indices

In India, broader markets sank deep into the red. The BSE Midcap index slumped 3.8% and the Smallcap index lost 4.4%. The broader BSE 500 slipped 3.1%. The BSE Sensex Next 50 was down over 3.75%.

Real estate shares led the selling spree with the BSE Realty index down 6% on concerns higher interest rates will dent demand for properties. It was followed by the BSE Metal index, which crumbled 5%.

The Basic Materials index dropped 4.5% while the consumer durables as well as consumer discretionary goods and services indices were both down around 4% each. The BSE Auto index slid 2.65%.

Other indices that fell more than 3% were capital goods, energy, industrials and IT.

The BSE Bankex was the least hit, falling 1.65% while the Oil & Gas index, the healthcare index and the FMCG index fell around 2.3-2.4% each.

Apart from tech stocks, the stocks that recorded the biggest drop were in sectors that would hurt the most if interest rates higher. In the broader market, two well-known tech companies that had gone public last year fell sharply. Food delivery company Zomato lost almost a fifth of its value and touched a new low of Rs 91 apiece while cosmetics retailer Nykaa slumped 13% to hit a record low of Rs 1,693.25 apiece before marginally paring the losses.