Indian shares posted their biggest fall in 7-1/2 weeks as IT services exporter Infosys Ltd slumped after its founders sold the company's stock, while metals and mining firms tumbled on data showing an unexpected fall in imports to China.

The BSE benchmark Sensex plummeted 338.70 points or 1.19 per cent at 28,119.40 and the NSE index fell 100.05 points or 1.17 per cent at 8,438.25.

IT, TECk stocks succumbed to heavy selling pressure as some of the > founders of Infosys want to sell shares for $1.1 billion in the company.

Four of the original founders, co-founders and their families are offering 32.6 million shares in Infosys at a fixed price of Rs. 1,988 ($32) each, a 4 per cent discount to Friday's close.

Sectoral indices

Barring FMCG, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. Among them, IT index fell the most by 3.18 per cent, followed by TECk 2.58 per cent, realty 1.8 per cent and capital goods 1.72 per cent, while FMCG index was up 0.78 per cent.

Gainers, losers

Coal India (2.2%), ITC (1.63%), Sun Pharma (0.91%), ONGC (0.63%) and Cipla (0.61%) were the top five Sensex gainers, while the major losers were Infosys (4.88%), SSLT (3.6%), M&M (3.32%), Hindalco (2.51% and TCS (2.51%).

Brokers comment

A report by SMC Investments and Advisors said: "Asian stocks rose after a surprising surge in US payrolls increased optimism about the world's largest economy and sent the yen tumbling, boosting Japanese shares. Consumer credit in the US rose by less than expected in the month of October, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve. The Fed said consumer credit increased by $13.2 billion in October after climbing by a revised $15.4 billion in September."

Global markets:>European stocks and government bonds dipped on Monday as weak data from Asia, a rating downgrade for Italy and the slump in oil prices stoked concerns about global growth.

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