Snapping a three-day rally, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex tumbled by 337 points Monday as world stocks reacted negatively to weak US job data and Hungary's debt woes.
The Sensex, which gained 545 points in the last three trading sessions, fell sharply by 336.62 points to 16,781.07, its biggest single day loss since May 25. During the trading
session, the benchmark index touched an intra-day low of 16,686.73.
The trading sentiment was dampened by a weakening Asian trend after the euro tumbled on Hungary's warning on Saturday that it might default on debt payments.
Selling pressure also gathered momentum after the release of data which showed that US jobs situation was below the market's expectations.
Reports of a likely rise in fuel prices here today also dented the trading sentiment to some extent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 101.50 to 5,034.00, after moving in a range of 5,004.25 to 5,132.95 points.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 3.5 per cent today, its biggest decline since March 30, 2009. The gauge has slumped 15 per cent from its high this year on April 15 amid growing concern that the Greece-triggered sovereign debt crisis is spilling over to other European nations.
In the 30-BSE component, 27 stocks closed with losses and three -- ACC, Hero Honda and RCom -- ended with gains. RCom spurted by Rs 7.75, or 4.61 per cent to Rs 175.90 after the company board gave its approval for a 26 per cent stake sale.
The pull-down in the market was led by stocks in the metals, realty, refinery, capital goods and auto sectors. All the sectoral indices were down between 3.99 and 0.72 per cent.