Sensex plunges 1,375.27 points, Nifty ends at 8281.10 as bear run continues amid global sell-off

New Delhi: Bear run continued in the equity benchmark indices on Monday (March 30) ended weak with the Sensex down 1,375.27 points or 4.61% at 28440.32, while the broader Nifty ended 379.15 points down or 4.38% at 8281.10. Except for pharma and FMCG, all other sectoral indices ended in the red. Major losers on the Nifty were Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Tata Steel.

In the afternoon trade, Indian stock markets today witnessed bear run with the BSE Sensex falling over 1,000 points, while the Nifty50 also tanked over 260 points to trade below the 8,400 mark amid global sell-off. Asian indices also fell on the growing number of coronavirus cases worldwide.

At 1.10 pm, Sensex was trading at 28,792.18, lower by 1,023.41 points or 3.43 per cent from the previous close of 29,815.59, while the broader Nifty was trading at 8,396.55, lower by 263.70 points or 3.04 per cent from its previous close.

Although it has been a sell-off across all sectors, banking, financial and auto stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure. On the Sensex, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, and Maruti Suzuki lost the most while Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, TCS, and Asian Paints were the only gainers.

During early morning trade today, equity benchmark indices traded weak in line with Asian peers as fears mounted over the rising cases of coronavirus and economic impact of lockdown in most parts of the world.

At 10:15 am, the BSE Sensex was down by 575 points or 1.93 per cent to 29,241 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 178 points or 2.06 per cent to 8,482. Except for Nifty IT and pharma, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty auto down by 4.1 per cent, metal and realty by 3.4 per cent each, PSU bank by 2.4 per cent and financial service by 2.9 per cent.

Among stocks, Bajaj Finance was the top loser after clocking a loss of 9.04 per cent to Rs 2,312.60 per share. Mahindra & Mahindra fell by 6.5 per cent, Eicher Motors by 6.3 per cent, Maruti Suzuki by 4.3 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 4.2 per cent, while other prominent losers were Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, ONGC and UPL, but Cipla, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, GAIL and Zee Entertainment traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares slid and oil prices tumbled as fears mounted that the global shutdown for coronavirus pandemic could last for months. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan lost by 1.1 per cent while Shanghai blue chips shed 1.4 per cent.

Central banks within and outside India have mounted an all-out effort to bolster economic activity with interest rate cuts and asset-buying campaigns. Still, the projections for global economy in 2020 continue to depress investor sentiment. 

Notably, crude oil fell sharply on Monday, with US crude briefly dropping below $20 and Brent hitting its lowest level in 18 years, on heightened fears that the global coronavirus shutdown could last months and demand for fuel could evaporate further, a Reuters reports said.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, was down $1.93, or %7.7, at $23.00 by 0820 GMT, after earlier dropping to $22.76, the lowest since November 2002. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.14, or %5.3, to $20.37.

Gold prices held steady today as a flight to cash to cover losses in market equities overshadowed measures by global central banks to contain the economic fallout from the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

(With Agency Inputs)