Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply on Tuesday following weakness in global peers and amid rising geopolitical tensions in Europe. Key indices continued their weak run throughout the session amid reports that India’s economy showed signs of slowing-but-steady growth last month, with businesses holding on to optimism that domestic demand will revive as the peak shopping season approaches.

The Sensex slumped 843.79 points or 1.46% to settle at 57,147.32. During the day, it tanked 940.71 points or 1.62% to 57,050.40. The Nifty fell 257.45 points or 1.49% to end at 16,983.55.

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The broader indices ended in red with the BSE Midcap index declining by 1.41% and the SmallCap index down by 1.47%. The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.07%, Metal down by 3.04%, Telecom down by 2.45%, IT down by 2.12%, and TECK was down by 2.11%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

Top laggards from the Sensex pack were IndusInd down by 3.70%, Nestle 3.13%, Tata Steel 2.86%, Infosys 2.65%, HCL Tech 2.47%, Tech Mahindra 2.42%, Dr Reddys Lab 2.35%, Hindustan Unilever 2.08%, Maruti Suzuki 2.07% and Titan Company 2.05%.

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Among the gainers were Axis Bank up by 1.15% and Asian Paints up by 0.68%.

The Indian rupee traded in a narrow range and closed flat at 82.32 against the US dollar.

Asian markets settled mostly lower with the Hang Seng down by 2.23%, the Nikkei 225 down by 2.64%, and the KOSPI Composite down by 1.83%.

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European stock exchanges were trading in the negative territory in mid-session deals. The US equity markets ended lower on Monday.

“Investors are becoming risk-averse due to rising geopolitical turmoil as well as worries about the global economic slump. Investors’ caution ahead of the announcement of inflation data prevented a better-than-expected start to IT earnings from improving market mood,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

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However, as compared to global counterparts, domestic selling is not as aggressive since FII selling is primarily absorbed by DIIs, Nair added.

Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark declined 2.59% to $93.70 per barrel.

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According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net of Rs 2,139.02 crore on Monday.