Equity benchmarks spiralled lower for the fourth session running on Monday, in tandem with a bearish trend overseas as hardening interest rates and prospects of a global recession darkened the outlook for riskier assets.

The rupee plunged to a fresh lifetime low against the US dollar amid foreign fund outflows, which further dented investor sentiment.

 The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 953.70 points or 1.64 per cent to close at 57,145.22.

 Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 311.05 points or 1.80 per cent to 17,016.30.

 Maruti Suzuki was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding 5.49 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, ITC, Axis Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank.

 In contrast, HCL Technologies, Asian Paints, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, TCS, Nestle India and Wipro were the gainers, climbing up to 1.28 per cent.

“Nifty fell for the fourth consecutive session driven by weak global cues and a falling rupee. Global risk assets including equities extended their selloff on Monday as fears of faster inflation and global recession continued to rise,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

 Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the soaring dollar as a result of aggressive monetary tightening by the US Fed, slowing economic growth and rising demand from cautious investors are causing turbulence in the global equity markets.

“This is creating mayhem in the domestic market led by weakening INR, elevated bond yields and pessimistic trends of Asian peers. Only the IT sector, which exhibited the weakest performance in the last 1 year, defied the trend in anticipation that the global recession is mostly factored in the price and is trading at reasonable valuations,” he noted.

 In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge tumbled 3.33 per cent and the midcap index fell by 2.84 per cent.