Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Monday in-line with extremely weak trends in global markets amid fears of a slowdown in the US economy and foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 2,401.49 points to 78,580.46 in early trade. The NSE Nifty tumbled 489.65 points to 24,228.05.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Adani Ports, Maruti and Reliance Industries were the biggest laggards.

Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever were trading in the positive territory.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading sharply lower while Shanghai quoted higher.

The US markets ended significantly lower on Friday.

"The rally in the global stock markets has been driven mainly by consensus expectations of a soft landing for the US economy. This expectation is now under threat with the fall in US job creation in July and the sharp rise in the US unemployment rate to 4.3 per cent. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East also are a contributing factor," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,310 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"Anxiety remains high, especially after Friday's unexpectedly weak US July jobs report, suggesting that volatility will be the hallmark of the day," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.35 per cent to USD 77.08 a barrel.

Amid widespread selling pressure, the BSE benchmark plunged 885.60 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 80,981.95 on Friday. The broader Nifty of NSE dropped 293.20 points or 1.17 per cent to end at 24,717.70.

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