Indian equity markets ended sharply lower on Monday as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East rattled investor sentiment. The benchmark Sensex fell 638 points, or 0.78%, to close at 81,050, while the Nifty dropped 218 points, or 0.87%, to settle at 24,795.

The market rout wiped out Rs 9 lakh crore in investor wealth, with the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies declining to Rs 452 lakh crore, down from Rs 461 lakh crore in Friday's session.

Among Sensex constituents, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, TCS, and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers. On the losing side, heavyweights like NTPC, SBI, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Reliance, JSW Steel, Nestle, L&T, HUL, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top losers.

Except IT index, almost all the indices closed in the red. Auto, PSU Bank, fin service, pharma, FMCG, metal, realty, media, energy, infra, private bank and PSE were major losers ranging from midcap to smallcap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 1,174 points, or 2.01 per cent, at 57,300 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index was down 515 points, or 2.75 per cent, at 18,242.

According to market experts, the Indian markets have entered a consolidation phase with a high risk of underperforming to Asian peers, marked by significant corrections in the broader market due to premium valuations, they said.