Sensex, Nifty50 negative for 2022 dragged by geopolitical tensions

Indian equity benchmarks suffered sharp losses on Monday tracking a sell-off across global markets, fuelled by escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Sharp losses in banking and financial services stocks led to the fall in headline indices.

Both S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty finished the day around three percent lower. The 30-scrip index finished the day with a cut of 1,747.1 points to 56,405.8 and the broader Nifty50 settled at 16,842.8, down 532 points from its previous close.

Both are now 2-3 percent down on a year-to-date basis, and around 9.5 percent from their all-time highs (October 19, 2021).

Forty nine stocks in the Nifty50 pack were in the red at the close. JSW Steel, HDFC Life, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, HDFC, Shree Cement and SBI -- down around 5-6 percent -- were the top blue-chip laggards. TCS was the lone gainer in the Nifty50 pack, managing to eke out a gain of 0.9 percent.

ICICI Bank, the HDFC twins and Infosys were the biggest drags on headline indices.

Geopolitical tensions sent broader markets sliding to correction territory. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices fell around four percent for the day, now 14 percent and 11 percent off their peaks respectively.

The US said on Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time and might create a surprise pretext for an attack, reaffirming a pledge to defend NATO territory.

"The Russia-Ukraine conflict is impacting crude already, taking it closer to $100 per barrel. It would make things difficult for India as the Russia-China-Iran-Pakistan axis would be very dangerous for India's foreign policy," AK Prabhakar, Head of Research at IDBI Capital Markets, told CNBCTV18.com.

Rising crude oil prices, worsening inflation and Fed rate hikes are "very negative for our market... Added to this, we have fluid geopolitical risk, so a 6-8 percent correction looks possible (for the Indian market)," he said.

(Catch latest from CNBC-TV18's coverage of Russia-Ukraine conflict)

Only about 25 stocks in the NSE 500 universe -- the bourse's broadest barometer -- managed to stay afloat in the green.

In the midcap and smallcap segments, Metropolis, KRBL, Mahindra Logistics and Welspun -- down around 12-15 percent -- were the top losers. Among the top gainers were Bharat Dynamics, Johnson Controls-Hitachi, Uflex and Sequent, up around 2-8 percent.

European shares began Monday with deep cuts tracking losses across Asia, as warnings that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time sent oil price soaring to seven-year highs. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 2.6 percent at the last count. The United Kingdom's FTSE benchmark was down 1.7 percent. France's DAX was down 2.8 percent and France's CAC 2.9 percent.

S&P 500 futures were flat, suggesting a muted start ahead on Wall Street.