Indian shares tumble 2%

Indian shares slumped on Monday to a near four-month low as rising Omicron cases and renewed lockdowns threatened to derail global economic recovery, while Future Group stocks jumped after the country's antitrust agency suspended a deal with Amazon.com.

The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) closed 2.2 per cent lower at 16,614.20, and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) dropped 2.1 per cent to 55,822.01. Both the indexes fell as much as 3 per cent earlier in the session.

The Netherlands went into a lockdown on Sunday and the possibility of more COVID-19 restrictions being imposed ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays loomed over several European countries as the Omicron coronavirus variant spreads rapidly.

With the Nifty 50 down more than 10 per cent from its record highs scaled in October, the index is now in a correction territory, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note.