Coronavirus infects D-Street as Sensex crashes 2,919 pts in biggest 1-day fall
Mumbai: The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) witnessed their single-day fall in absolute terms after they settled over 8 per cent lower on Thursday, tracking a fall in the global markets. In percentage terms, it was their second-biggest one-day fall in history.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 2,919.26 points (8.18 per cent), its biggest one-day fall in absolute terms, to settle at 32,778.14. During the intraday trade, the 30-share benchmark slipped as much as 3,204.30 points (8.98 per cent) to 32,493.10. From hitting a high of 42,273 on January 20, the Sensex is now down by over 23 per cent, in the bear phase.
Just like the Sensex, the Nifty 50 index too fell 868.25 points (8.30 per cent), its biggest drop in absolute terms, to settle below the key 10,000-mark for the first time in two years, at 9,590.15. During the day's trade, the NSE benchmark had crashed 950.40 points (9.09 per cent) to hit an intraday low of 9,508.00. In the process, the 50-share index entered bear territory – a 20 per cent fall from its most recent peak in January.
All the Sensex stocks ended in the negative zone on Thursday. Among the biggest contributors to the 30-share index's fall were HDFC twins – comprising of HDFC Bank (down 8.18 per cent) and Housing Development Finance Corporation (down 7.88 per cent). Along with these two were oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries (RIL) (down 7.95 per cent) and ICICI Bank (down 8.68 per cent).
All the sectoral indices on NSE hit their respective 52-week lows during the intraday trade on Thursday and eventually settled in a sea of red. The Nifty PSU Bank index was the worst sectoral performer of the day, it fell 13.16 per cent weighed by Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India (SBI). The bigger Nifty Bank index too declined 9.50 per cent weighed by IDFC First Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index fell 1,052.78 points (7.84 per cent) to end at 12,380.36, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index slipped 1,110.26 points (8.72 per cent) to settle at 11,614.89 on Thursday.
"Recession fears increased after WHO declared coronavirus a pandemic which forced investors to sell off risky assets. Fresh travel bans across nations is contributing to the fears that economic impact will be much larger than earlier estimates. RBI is expected to cut interest rate and announce additional liquidity before the scheduled meeting which is due next month," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said in a post-market statement.
(INputs and Image from theindianexpress.com)
