Indian equity benchmarks started Monday's session in the red amid selling across most sectors, mirroring weakness in shares globally as investors remained concerned about resilience of the world economy. Investors awaited a key GDP reading and the Fed Chairman's speech as the annual Jackson Hole symposium due this week for cues.

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NSE

The Sensex fell as much as 546.7 points or 0.9 percent to 59,099.4 in the first few minutes of trade and the Nifty50 slipped to as low as 17,582.4, down 176.1 points or one percent from its previous close.

A total of 41 stocks in the Nifty50 basket slipped below the flatline. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Cipla, Hindalco, Divi's and UPL were the top laggards.

Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy's, IndusInd, Tech Mahindra and Coal India — trading up to 0.8 percent lower at the open — were also among the blue-chip losers.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports, Reliance, UltraTech and Bajaj Finance — rising up to half a percent — were among the top gainers.

The HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank were the biggest contributors to the fall in both main indices.

"The market is delicately poised with a higher downward risk. Sustained FII buying is positive but they are unlikely to buy aggressively in the current context of a rising dollar. The dollar index is back above 108, which is negative for capital flows to emerging markets," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Paytm parent One97 Communications' shares jumped as much as 3.7 percent to Rs 800.1 apiece on BSE, a day after shareholders approved the reappointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma as the digital payments firm's CEO and Managing Director.

The company said the move is a reflection of shareholders' faith in its leadership and shows their confidence in its growth target.

Overall market breadth was in favour of the bears, as 1,087 stocks rose and 2,111 fell on BSE.

The India VIX index — also known in market parlance as a gauge of fear —jumped 5.5 percent to 19.3, its biggest intraday jump since August 10.

Analysts expect volatility to persist ahead of the expiry of monthly derivative contracts due on Thursday.

The rupee began the week weaker against the dollar.

Global markets

Equities in other Asian markets were largely in the red, following a broad sell-off on Wall Street on Friday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6 percent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.5 percent.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.4 percent, suggesting a weak start ahead in the US.

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