Renewed Omicron fears spur sell-off

Selling Across The Board

- BSE Sensex 949.32 pts lower at 56,747.14

- NSE Nifty slumped 284.45 pts to 16,912.25

- All Sensex components ended in the red

- IndusInd Bank was the top loser

- Bajaj Finserv, Airtel, TCS, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra end lower

- China's central bank slashes banks' reserve requirements to shore up liquidity

- Crisis-hit Evergrande may run out of money

Mumbai: Equity indices spiralled lower on Monday as the spread of the Omicron variant in the country spooked investors and triggered an across-the-board sell-off. A plunging rupee and continued selling by foreign institutional investors added to the woes, traders said. Extending its losing streak for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 949.32 points or 1.65 per cent to close at 56,747.14, an over three-month low. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty slumped 284.45 points or 1.65 per cent to 16,912.25. All Sensex components ended in the red. Equity investors lost Rs 4.29 lakh crore in Monday's session, with the market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies standing at Rs 2,56,72,771.67 crore. Investors' wealth tumbled Rs 5,80,016.37 crore in two trading sessions to Monday.

IndusInd Bank was the biggest laggard, shedding 3.75 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Infosys. India reported 17 more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Sunday -- nine persons in Rajasthan capital Jaipur, seven in Maharashtra's Pune district and a fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania -- taking the tally to 21 in the country. With this, four states and the national capital have now reported cases of the potentially more contagious variant which has sparked a fresh alert across the world.

"Ambiguity surrounding Omicron continued to dent the morale of domestic investors ahead of the important RBI policy announcement on Wednesday.