Sensex crashes over 1,300 points; Nifty below 8,100 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Equity indices continued to plunge on Thursday amid the coronavirus-led global sell off. The benchmark BSE sensex tanked 1,339 points or 4.64 per cent to 27,530; while the broader NSE Nifty moved 381 points or 4.50 per cent lower to 8,088.
Major laggards in the BSE pack include HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, M&M, and Maruti with their stocks falling as much as 12.47 per cent.
On NSE, all the sub-indices were trading in red with Nifty Private Bank and Financial Service down as much as 8.4 per cent.
The 30-share BSE index had closed 1,710 points or 5.59 per cent lower at 28,870 on Wednesday. Sensex had closed below the 29,000-mark for the first time since January 2017.
On similar lines, the broader Nifty had plummeted 498 points, or 5.56 per cent, to finish at 8,468.80.
“We’re in this phase where investors are just looking to liquidate their positions,” Prashant Newnaha, senior interest rate strategist at TD Securities in Singapore, told news agency Reuters.
The deadly coronavirus has infected over 2,00,000 people and caused nearly 8,500 deaths in 164 nations, triggering emergency lockdowns and injections of cash.
In India more than 160 people have been infected so far and three have died.
Incessant foreign fund outflow also kept domestic market participants risk-averse, traders said.
On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 5,085.35 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.
(With agency inputs)