A deep selloff across sectors – led by banking, auto and metal stocks – damaged the markets
Highlights
- Trading resumed at 10:58 am after 10% fall in markets triggered circuit
- Financial stocks led deep selloff across sectors
- Midcap, smallcap benchmarks suffer double-digit percentage losses
Trading in the domestic stock markets resumed after a 45-minute halt following a 10 per cent plunge each in benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty 50. The Sensex plunged as much as 3,974.38 points to 25,941.58 in late afternoon deals, and the Nifty dropped to as low as 7,611.15, down 1,134.3 points from the previous close. Earlier, the Sensex and Nifty had frozen at 27,608.80 – down 2,307.16 points from the previous close – and 7,903.00 (down 842.45 points) respectively, triggering the lower circuit breaker. India entered a lockdown joining several countries in their fight against the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Here are 10 things to know about the big selloff in the markets:
At 3:15 pm, the Sensex traded 3,976.36 points – or 13.29 per cent – lower at 25,939.60, and the Nifty was down 1,139.60 points – or 13.03 per cent – at 7,605.85. A deep selloff across sectors – led by banking, auto and metal stocks – damaged the markets.
The Nifty Bank index – comprising stocks of 12 major lenders in the country including heavyweights SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank – was down 17.12 per cent, having dropped 17.17 per cent earlier.
While all 50 stocks in the Nifty basket moved lower at the time, 35 were down with double-digit percentage losses at the moment. Worst hit were Axis Bank (down 28.86 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (24.63 per cent), Bajaj Finance (23.72 per cent), IndusInd Bank (23.66 per cent), Adani Ports (19.19 per cent), Grasim (18.81 per cent) and ICICI Bank (18.46 per cent).
Market experts reckon that the worst may not be over just yet. “Investors at this point are panicking and waiting helplessly for more clarity on the coronavirus situation… Unless the markets stop falling, we will not know where the bottom lies,” Nithin Kamath, founder and CEO of brokerage Zerodha, told NDTV.
Besides Nifty Bank, all other 10 sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange suffered losses. The Nifty Private Bank, Auto, Financial Services and Metal indices were down 18.35 per cent, 13.97 per cent, 16.40 per cent and 11.79 per cent respectively.
Mid- as well as small-cap stocks also endured big losses. The S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices – gauging the two segments – were down 12.94 per cent and 12.21 per cent respectively.
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.
Investors are assessing the effectiveness of policy measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak amid fears that the world economy may enter into recession. (Also Read: Recovery Will Take A Long Time, Say Analysts)
Monday’s trading halt was a second within a period of seven sessions, as world markets continued to suffer the worst selloff registered since the 2008-09 global financial crisis. The rapidly spreading virus has claimed more than 14,000 lives globally with more than 3 lakh cases of infection, disrupting business and ravaging markets worldwide.
Global stock markets sank as a rising tide of national coronavirus lockdowns threatened to overwhelm policymakers’ frantic efforts to cushion what is likely to be a deep global recession. European dived 4.5 per cent while US E-Mini futures fell 3.5 per cent and MSCI’s main world stocks index was down 1.6 per cent, and almost at 4-year lows. In Asian trade, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 5.4 per cent.
(With inputs from Reuters)
