Bourses halt trading for first time in 12 years for 45 minutes

Mumbai: Markets took investors on a gut-churning ride on Friday, with trading being halted for the first time in 12 years as benchmarks plunged over 10 per cent in opening trade, before staging an emphatic comeback powered by banking, finance and energy stocks.

The BSE and NSE suspended trading for 45 minutes a little past 9.20 am after the Sensex and Nifty plunged in tandem with global markets as the Coronavirus pandemic triggered recession fears.

However, domestic indices surged after trading resumed as investors snapped up recently-battered stocks available at attractive valuations. Expectations of stimulus measures by the US and other countries also buoyed sentiment, analysts stated.

Recovering over 5,380 points from its intra-day low of 29,388.97, the BSE Sensex ended 1,325.34 points or 4.04 per cent higher at 34,103.48.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty settled 365.05 points, or 3.81 per cent, up at 9,955.20. It hit an intra-day low of 8,555.15.

Most Sensex components ended with gains. SBI was the top gainer, rallying 13.87 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, Nestle India, Asian Paints, HUL, Hero MotoCorp and HCL Tech shed up to 4.12 per cent.

During the holiday-shortened week, the Sensex plummeted 3,473.14 points or 9.24 per cent, while the Nifty lost 1,034.25 points or 9.41 per cent.

The benchmarks posted their biggest ever one-day falls in two sessions this week (March 9 and 12).

Investor wealth worth around Rs 15 lakh crore has been wiped off in the past four sessions. With agency inputs