Russia-Ukraine crisis: Monday mayhem in Indian stock markets, Sensex plummets

Indian markets made a chaotic opening on Monday, hours after the European Union and the United States stepped up the pressure in the form of sanctions on Russia to stop the invasion of Ukraine. 

The Indian equities indexes opened down due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. As Western nations stepped up sanctions on Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin directed its nuclear "deterrence forces" to be placed on high alert.

That development sent the market in a tizzy. As of 10:31 am, the benchmark BSE Sensex was down by 566 points to trade at 55,292. An hour earlier, it shed 1,004 points, or 1.80%, to trade at 54,854, while the wider NSE Nifty was down 268 points, or 1.6%, to 16,390.

On BSE, the overall market breadth was weak as 650 shares were advancing while 2,086 were declining. Investors' wealth slumped by more than Rs 4.09 lakh crore to Rs 245.93 lakh crore in early trade.

The Nikkei 225 index in Japan declined 0.34 percent, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong plummeted 1.49 percent, and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.28 per cent. Mid- and small-cap stocks were trading lower, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index down 1.36 percent and small-cap stocks falling 2.01 per cent. The majority of the sector indicators, as calculated by the National Stock Exchange, were in the red. Nifty Auto and Nifty Bank were lagging the index by as much as 1.99% and 1.92%, respectively.

On Friday, the Sensex gained 1,329 points, or 2.44 percent, to end at 55,859, while the NSE Nifty gained 410 points, or 2.53 percent, to close at 16,658.