Mumbai, Aug 5 : Indian equity indices closed in the deep red on Monday following US recession fear in the global markets.

At closing, Sensex fell 2,222 points or 2.74 per cent to 78,759 and Nifty fell 662 points or 2.68 per cent to 24,055.

Due to the massive fall in the market, the market cap of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) came down to Rs 441 lakh crore, which was Rs 457 lakh crore in the previous trading session, resulting in a Rs 16 lakh crore wealth loss by the investors.

Selling was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index was down 858 points or 4.57 per cent at 17,942 and the Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 2,056 points or 3.55 per cent at 55,857.

Market experts said, "Taking cues from the global market, the domestic market closed on a negative note, the correction was primarily driven by disappointing US job data which caused worries about a potential recession in the US as the unemployment rate reached 4.3 per cent, while there are fears of a reverse carry trade in Yen after a rate hike by the Bank of Japan and further, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East."

All the indices closed in the red. The biggest decline was in PSU Bank, Metal, Realty, Energy, Infra, Auto and IT indices.

Twenty-eight out of 30 stocks in Sensex closed in the red.

Tata Motors, Tata Steel, SBI, Power Grid, Maruti Suzuki, JSW Steel, Infosys, L&T and Tech Mahindra were the top losers. HUL and Nestle were the only ones to close in the green.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities said, "Nifty slipped back into the rising channel on the daily time frame due to heavy selling during the day. On the lower end, Nifty found initial support at the 50EMA before closing slightly higher."

"The RSI is in a bearish crossover and falling. Sentiment is likely to remain weak in the short term and may weaken further below 23,900. Support is placed at 23,900/23,700. On the higher end, resistance is seen at 24,200/24,500," he added.

/IANS