Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS): Indian benchmark indices fell sharply on Monday, starting the week on a negative note, as investors remained cautious of slackening growth that would push key economies into recession, dealers said.

At close, Sensex ended 953.70 points, or 1.64 per cent, down at 57,145.22, and Nifty closed 311.05 points, or 1.80 per cent at 17,016.30. A total of 2,925 shares have declined, 660 shares advanced and 122 remained unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, ITC, Axis Bank, NTPC, and Bajaj Finance were major losers on the Sensex.

Among indices, Nifty Auto fell 3.81 per cent, Nifty Metal fell 4.13 per cent, BSE Commodities fell 3.32 per cent, and BSE Utilities fell 3.72 per cent.

"The speed with which central banks across the globe are hiking interest rates, investors are worried that slackening growth would push key economies into recession. With the monetary policy decisions on the anvil, rate-sensitive stocks like banking, realty, and auto crumbled badly as rate hikes could dent demand going ahead. However, due to markets being in oversold territory, we could witness a quick pullback rally," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Global risk assets including equities extended their selloff on Monday as fears of faster inflation and global recession continued to rise.

The Chinese government raised the foreign exchange risk reserve requirements for financial institutions to stem a drop in the yuan, making it more expensive for traders to short the currency.

S&P Global ratings has retained India growth outlook at 7.3 per cent for the fiscal year 2022-2023 and 6.5 per cent for the next fiscal year, although it sees the risks tilted to the downside.

"Nifty has broken the important support of 17,166 and now is on the verge of breaking 17,000. 16,947 and 16,794 are the next supports for Nifty while 17166 could be the resistance in the near term," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.