Sensex Drops 500 Points As Omicron Fears Linger, Asian Markets Fall

Benchmark indices opened the day lower even as global markets staged a modest recovery, as fears of the new Omicron virus continued to linger.

Asian markets were trading marginally lower, with the Japanese Nikkei down 0.58%, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed and the Hang Sang dropped by 0.2%.

U.S. equity futures, crude oil and Treasury yields climbed Monday as investors tried to calibrate economic risks from the omicron coronavirus strain, restoring calm back to markets

The Sensex was last seen trading lower by nearly 500 points and dipped to 56,582 points. The Nifty plunged 222 points in trade. Shares in Reliance Industries gained marginally, following a revision in tariffs for its prepaid customers. Shares in Coal India dropped despite board meeting later today for the purpose of declaring dividends.

Among the biggest losers from the Nifty was Adani Ports, Tata Motors, HeroMo Corp, UPL and Tata Steel. Banking stocks too took it on the chin with stocks like Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and ICICI Bank seeing deep cuts in trade. With today's losses the Sensex has lost more than 9% from 52-week peaks.

Meanwhile, Dow Futures were pointing to some recovery with the future up almost 1% in trade. The Indian markets have now seen some of the deepest cuts as compared to other peers.