Sensex down 894 point, Nifty closes below 11000; Tata Motors, Zee, Tata Steel, SBI major losers

Image courtesy: Reuters

New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices on Friday (March 6) ended lower with the Sensex down 893.99 points or 2.32% at 37,576.62, and the broader Nifty also closing down 279.50 points or 2.48% at 10,989.50. Major losers on the Nifty were Tata Motors, Zee Entertainment, Tata Steel, SBI and IndusInd Bank while Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, GAIL and Asian Paints were among top gainers.

All the sectoral indices ended in the red. About 538 shares advanced, 1875 shares declined, while 125 shares remain unchanged. 

Equity market, however, made investors poorer by Rs 3.85 lakh crore today as the BSE barometer Sensex plummeted over 1,400 points led by massive selloff in banking, metal and energy stocks. 
Tracking the plunge in the indices, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies dropped by Rs 3,85,485.39 crore to Rs 1,43,99,995.94 crore. 

The 30-share BSE index was trading over 900 points lower in afternoon session as sentiment in the market remained muted amid crisis at Yes Bank and rising concerns over the economic strain of coronavirus outbreak.

Shares of Yes Bank came under intense selling pressure as the session progressed on Friday and plunged nearly 85 per cent after the lender was placed under a 30-day moratorium.

The entire banking pack also came crashing, with RBL Bank trading 13 per cent lower, followed by IndusInd Bank which dropped 7 per cent, SBI 6.5 per cent and Axis Bank 3.55 per cent on the BSE.
The BSE bank index dropped 2.46 per cent.

From the 30-share pack, all the constituents were trading with losses led by IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, SBI and HDFC which plunged up to 7.3 per cent.

During early hours today, equity benchmark indices tumbled after another overnight steep fall on Wall Street with banking stocks seen coming under pressure after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed Yes Bank under a moratorium and took over its board.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 1,036 points or 2.69 per cent to 37,435 while the Nifty 50 dived by 306 points or 2.72 per cent at 10,963. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty PSU bank down by 5 per cent, private bank by 4.5 per cent, metal by 4.2 per cent and realty by 3.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank crashed by 29.89 per cent to Rs 25.80 per share after the RBI said it is superseding the board of troubled private sector lender with immediate effect. Former State Bank of India Chief Financial Officer Prashant Kumar has been appointed the administrator.

Yes Bank has been grappling with mounting bad loans and has been struggling to raise fresh capital.IndusInd Bank too dropped by 10.9 per cent at Rs 10.91 per share. Public sector State Bank of India dipped by 5.9 per cent after clarifying that no negotiations related to an investment in Yes Bank had taken place.

The other prominent losers were metal majors Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco besides Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance and Bharti Infratel.

Meanwhile, Asian shares and US stock futures fell after another Wall Street rout as disruptions to global business from coronavirus beyond China worsened. 

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 1.3 per cent while Japan`s Nikkei stock index slid by 2.29 per cent.

The spread of a new coronavirus accelerated in Europe, Britain and North America, prompting investors to re-assess the risks amid volatility in financial markets.

(With Agency Inputs)