The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened nearly 2 per cent lower on Monday amid rising cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
The S&P BSE Sensex cracked over 1,000 points in the early trade while the Nifty 50 on the NSE fell slipped over 300 points. At 9:23 am, the Sensex was trading at 48,539.30, down 1,052.02 points (2.12 per cent), while the Nifty was down 322.10 points (2.17 per cent) at 14,512.75.
Financial stocks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) were the top contributors to the fall in the BSE benchmark in the early trade.