Indian shares tumbled more than 2.5% on Monday, in their steepest drop in two months amid a global sell-off on fears of a U.S. recession.
Investors piled out of stocks globally after a bleak U.S. jobs report on Friday -- the unemployment rate jumped to near a three-year high in July amid a significant slowdown in hiring -- kindled fears that the Federal Reserve's delay in rate cuts may have tipped the United States into a recession.
Asian stocks tanked 4.2%, Japan's Nikkei plunged 12.4%, while European stocks fell to near six-month lows. U.S. stock index futures tumbled, with those tied to the Nasdaq falling nearly 4%.
"Bad news is finally bad news from the U.S.," said Abhishek Banerjee, founder of investment advisory firm Lotusdew Wealth and Investment Advisors.
"A weak jobs report, disappointments in semi-conductor earnings have all contributed to risk-off today, hurting expectations of a soft landing for the world's largest economy."
The Nifty 50's momentum turned negative after 41 sessions, while volatility rose to a two-month high.
The weakness was widespread, with about 90% of all the stocks listed on the National Stock Exchange logging losses.
Among sectors, information technology companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., fell 3.26% in their worst session in a year.
The one bright spot was the defensive and more domestically oriented consumer staples companies, which accounted for four of the five gainers on the Nifty 50.
Marico rose about 1.5% to lead the eight gainers on the Nifty 100 after the cooking and hair oils maker posted a slightly better-than-expected quarterly profit.
The pile-out of equities likely helped push the rupee to a record low, while bond yields dropped to a two-year low.
Still, Indian stocks fell less than their regional peers, which gave some analysts confidence in their medium-term prospects.
"The Indian stock market is much more resilient than other Asian and emerging markets in the face of a U.S. downturn because the market is driven by domestic money," said Christopher Wood, head of global equity strategy at Jefferies.
