Mumbai, May 9: Equity benchmarks continued to face heavy drubbing on Monday, with the Sensex tumbling over 713 points in early trade, following a sell-off in global markets and decline in shares of index major Reliance Industries. Unabated foreign fund outflows and firm crude oil prices also continued to weigh on sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 713.49 points to 54,122.09 in early trade. The NSE Nifty also tumbled 248.7 points to 16,162.55.

Among the Sensex pack firms, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were the major laggards in early deals. Power Grid was the only gainer among the 30-share pack. Sensex Falls Over 1,060 Points After RBI Hikes Interest Rate.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo and Korea were trading lower, while Shanghai traded marginally higher. "Asian markets got off to a shaky start on Monday as US stock futures took an early skid on rate worries, while a tightening lockdown in Shanghai stoked concerns about global economic growth and possible recession," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Stock exchanges in the US had fallen on Friday. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.46 per cent to USD 112.92 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors again offloaded shares worth Rs 5,517.08 crore on Friday, according to stock exchange data.

The Sensex dived 866.65 points or 1.56 per cent to finish at 54,835.58 on Friday. The Nifty tumbled 271.40 points or 1.63 per cent to settle at 16,411.25.

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