Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 3 (ANI): Key equity indices tumbled during early hours on Monday as surging Covid-19 cases continued to spook market sentiment.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SP Sensex was down by 401 points or 0.82 per cent at 48,381 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 97 points or 0.66 per cent to 14,534.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank slipping by 1.4 per cent, private bank by 1.3 per cent, financial service by 1 per cent and realty by 0.9 per cent. But Nifty pharma and auto rose marginally by 0.3 per cent.

Among stocks, index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped by 2.1 per cent to Rs 1,951.45 per share while Titan cracked by 3.1 per cent.

The other major losers were ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel.

However, Maruti Suzuki accelerated by 2 per cent to Rs 6,587.50 per share while Bajaj Auto was up by 1.1 per cent. FMCG majors like Hindustan Unilever, Britannia and Nestle India too were in the green zone.

Meanwhile, Asian share markets got off to a slow start as investors awaited data this week which should show the US leading a global economic recovery.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was flat. Japan's Nikkei was shut for a holiday but Nikkei futures edged up 0.2 per cent. (ANI)