Analysts say more correction may be up ahead as investors the world over assess the effectiveness of policy measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
Mumbai, March 23:
Domestic stock markets plunged more than 9 per cent in early trade on Monday and stared at a circuit breaker as India entered a lockdown joining several countries in their fight against the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The S&P BSE Sensex index fell as much as 2,718.15 points to hit 27,197.81 in the first few minutes of trade, and the broader NSE Nifty 50 plunged to as low as 7,941.65, down 803.8 points from the previous close. A deep selloff across sectors – led by banking, auto and metal stocks – hurt the markets.
Here are 10 things to know about the big selloff in the markets:
At 9:31 am, the Sensex traded 2,450.07 points – or 8.19 per cent – lower at 27,465.89 and the Nifty was down 696.30 points – or 7.96 per cent – at 8,049.15. (Also Read: Recovery Will Take A Long Time, Say Analysts)
The Nifty Bank index – comprising shares in 12 major lenders in the country including SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank – was down 8.54 per cent at the time. The financial sector has a weightage of 42 per cent in the Nifty.
Besides Nifty Bank, all other 10 sectoral indices on the NSE traded lower, and so did all of the 50 stocks in the Nifty basket.
Worst hit shares in the Nifty index at the time were Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, UltraTech Cement, Shree Cement and ICICI Bank, trading between 9.99 per cent and 13.28 per cent lower.
HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were the biggest drags on the Sensex, together accounting for a fall of more than 800 points in the index.
Several states in India will remain under a lockdown till March 31, as the country has registered 341 cases of coronavirus, with seven deaths as of Sunday. Analysts are expecting more correction as investors worldover assess the effectiveness of policy measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak amid fear that the global economy may enter recession.
Asian stock markets sank as a rising tide of national lockdowns threatened to overwhelm policymakers’ frantic efforts to cushion what is likely to be a deep global recession.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 3.8 per cent, with New Zealand’s market shedding a record 10 per cent as the government closed all non-essential businesses. Shanghai blue chips dropped 2.3 per cent, though Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8 per cent aided perhaps by expectations of more aggressive asset buying by the Bank of Japan.
In a foretaste of the pain to come, E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 dived 5 per cent at the open to be limit down, while EUROSTOXXX 50 futures tumbled 6.4 per cent.
The rapidly spreading virus has claimed more than 14,000 lives globally with more than 300,000 infections, disrupting business and ravaging markets worldwide..
Courtesy: NDTV
