In opening session, Sensex plunges by nearly 640 points at 57,825.94; Nifty at 17,251

Shares dropped on Tuesday after falling nearly 2% a day earlier, as technology, financial, and energy stocks slipped, and surging COVID-19 cases in Europe raised concerns of a hit to global economic growth.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.96% to 17,255.40 by 0356 GMT, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex declined 1.08% to 57,814.18.

The Nifty IT Index fell 1.5%, dragged by Infosys Ltd and Coforge Ltd — down about 2.2% each.

The Nifty Energy Index slid 0.72%, with state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Adani Transmission being among the top losers.

Oil prices dropped on growing talk that the United States, Japan and India will release crude reserves to tame prices.

Among other sub-indexes, banking stocks were down 0.3%, led by losses in ICICI Bank.

Paytm rose about 5.6% after two sessions of sharp falls. The digital payments start-up made one of the worst major stock market debuts in India last week.

Vedanta Ltd rose about 6.7% in early trade.

Asia stocks were mostly lower, tracking a retreat on Wall Street after U.S. President Joe Biden nominated Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lead the central bank for a second term, reinforcing expectations the U.S. will taper its stimulus soon.