The Sensex fell more than 600 points in the early session on Monday, mirroring sell-offs in global shares as geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe remained high.

In early trade, the 30-share BSE benchmark was down 606.30 points, or 1.05%, at 57,226.67, while the NSE Nifty was down 189 points, or 1.09%, at 17,087.30. Except for NTPC and PowerGrid, all Sensex stocks were trading with moderate to large losses.

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The broader indices were trading in red with the BSE Midcap index falling 1.12%, while the Small cap index was down by 1.90%. The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 1.71%, Oil & Gas down by 1.68%, Consumer Durables down by 1.68%, Industrials down by 1.52%, Consumer discretionary down by 1.49%, while there is no gainer.

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Elsewhere in Asia, bourses witnessed massive sell-offs in their opening deals but regained some lost ground on reports of a likely meeting between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine issue. 

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Nikkei 225 declined 221.71 points or 0.82% to 26,900.36, Hang Seng slipped 172.66 points or 0.71% to 24,155.05, Taiwan Weighted fell 11.09 points or 0.06% to 18,221.26, KOSPI lost 12.92 points or 0.47% to 2,731.60 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.59 points or 0.36% to 3,478.17. On the other hand, Straits Times added 6.36 points or 0.19% to 3,435.26 and Jakarta Composite rose 3.70 points or 0.05% to 6,896.52.

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Biden has agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Putin as long as that country holds off on what US officials believe is an imminent assault on Ukraine.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has been clear that “we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins”.

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Foreign institutional investors continued their selling frenzy in the Indian capital markets on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,529.96 crore, according to exchange data.

Brent crude oil futures fell 0.30% to trade at 93.33 a barrel. In early trade, the rupee gained 22 paise to trade at 74.44 against the US dollar.