BENGALURU, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Indian shares tumbled about 2% on Monday in their steepest intra-day drop in two months, but faring slightly better than its Asian peers in a sell-off in global equities on fears of a slowdown in U.S. economic growth.
The NSE Nifty 50 index slid 1.76% to 24,287, as of 10:10 a.m IST and the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.8% to 79,533.57.
U.S. jobs growth slowed more-than-expected in July, data showed on Friday. U.S. non-farm payrolls were well below expectations, the previous month's numbers were revised lower and most importantly, the unemployment rate climbed to a near three-year high.
"Global markets are reeling under pressure as bears enter with a cocktail of bad news," said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart.
"The fear of growth slowdown in the U.S. after extremely poor jobs data and concerns over reverse Yen carry trade have spooked market sentiment," Meena said.
Asian equities tumbled, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index dropping 2.9%. Japan's Nikkei shed 6% to hit seven-month lows, while U.S. stock futures continued their tumble from Friday, with Nasdaq futures down 3%.
"The relative resilience in Indian markets compared to other Asian and emerging markets is due to solid domestic economic fundamentals, sustained momentum in earnings and flush liquidity," said A Balasubramanian, managing director and chief executive officer at Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company.
Although Indian stocks fared relatively better, the rupee fell to a record low and bond yields dropped to their lowest in 2 years.
All thirteen major stock sub-indexes were in the red, led by the realty index's 5% slide.
The small-cap and mid-cap indexes were down more than 2% each.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp shares fell 3.7%, the most on the Nifty 50 index.
Volatility in Indian markets rose to a two-month high, with analysts expecting it to remain elevated given the negative global sentiment.
Reporting by Sethuraman NR and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza
Source: Reuters