Blue-chip Nifty 50 stock index fell below the 10,000-mark to at 09:19 AM while the Sensex sank 1,702 points to 34,020 at 09:27 AM on March 12.
Mumbai| The NSE Nifty 50 index slid 5.2% to 9,916.55 in early trading, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1,821.27 points or 5.1% to 33,876.13. The Nifty 50 briefly entered bear territory on Thursday — a 20% fall from its most recent peak in January.
Investors lost over Rs 7 lakh crore in market wealth within minutes of market opening as Sensex tanked 1,821 points.
Market capitalisation on BSE fell to Rs 129.92 lakh crore compared to the Wednesday’s market cap of Rs 137.13 lakh crore.
Asian shares plunged Thursday after the World Health Organization declared a coronavirus pandemic and indexes sank on Wall Street.
All the Sensex stocks were trading lower during the early trade on Thursday. Tata Steel, ONGC, Axis Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries (RIL) were among the top losers falling up to 9.5 per cent.
Likewise, all the sectoral indices on NSE too were trading in a sea of red during the early deals. The Nifty Metal index was among the worst-hit sectoral index slipping over 7 per cent weighed by Welspun Corp, APL Apollo Tubes, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Tata Steel.
Also Read: Markets end in the red following tensions between India and Pakistan
The rupee weakened as much as 0.8% to 74.35 against the dollar, its weakest level since October 2018, while the benchmark 10-year bond yield ticked up to 6.15%.
“The very fact that the WHO (World Health Organization) has called the outbreak a pandemic is a cause for worry for investors, especially since this comes against a backdrop of a slowing Indian economy,” said Gaurav Dua, head of capital market strategy at Sharekhan.
US President Donald Trump stunned markets as he announced the suspension of all travel to the United States from Europe, except the United Kingdom, for 30 days starting Friday in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Stock markets around the world crumbled after Trump’s move, with US stock index futures diving 4.7% and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan tumbling 4.1% to its lowest level since early 2019.
India said on Wednesday it will suspend a vast majority of visas to the country to contain the virus, as cases across the region continued to rise.
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