6
Mumbai: Benchmark equity index Sensex erased the day’s gains and tumbled more than 800 points on Tuesday to three-year closing lows, joining the selloff in world equities as the investors fretted over damage to the global economy from fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the US President Donald Trump warned the world’s largest economy could be heading into a recession.
Total number of coronavirus cases in the world have exceeded 1,80,000.
In India, the total number of coronavirus confirmations have reached 130, with three deaths.
Unabated selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) has also weighed heavily on the Indian stock market.
Since February 24, FIIs have been net sellers in all sessions and have dumped a net of $4.7 billion of Indian shares in the period.
The 30-share Sensex closed 2.58 per cent or 810.98 points at 30,579.09, the lowest close since March 10, 2017.
The 50-share Nifty dropped 2.51 per cent or 229.10 points to close at 8,968.30, the lowest close since May 24 2017.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms came down by 2.11 lakh crore to 119.52 lakh crore.
Markets at a glance:Market breadth was negative with more than two shares declining for every share that advanced on the BSE.
As many as 530 companies tested 52-week lows on the BSE.
BSE 500 index fell 2.23 per cent, while BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap indices dropped 1.84 per cent and 2.27 per cent respectively.
All sectoral indices closed lower.
BSE Bankex led the gainers’ pack in the day, but soon reversed course and was the top loser, and dropped 4.46 per cent at close.
Private lender ICICI Bank was the top loser as it shed 8.95 per cent.
YES Bank bucked the trend and rose 58.09 per cent.
The stock has gained around 1,000% over the last seven sessions.
As many as 21 Sensex stocks closed lower.
ICICI Bank was the biggest loser and contributed the most to the benchmark’s losses.
Mortgage lender HDFC and software services major Infosys followed next, and fell 4.74 per cent and 4.68 per cent respectively.
Analysts’ views:“Instead of getting carried away by the risk aversion, the retail investor should look at it as an opportunity by the market, to buy and select good quality companies or stocks at reasonable valuations if one has an investment horizon of more than 2 years.
There is ample historical evidence which suggests that the markets have bounced back post such sudden and sharp corrections and have rewarded the investors who chose to stay put with their investments.
It is difficult to time the market; hence, one should stagger their purchases and hold on to it through the rough ride.“
—Pankaj Bobade, head- fundamental research, Axis Securities,
"After trading in the positive for the majority of the day, the indices turned red during the last hour of trading, with selling mainly seen in Financials.
European markets and Dow futures added to the negativity.
Covid-19 showed no signs of abatement and with Central Banks monetary policy actions having limited impact, calls were out for more actions to contain the spread of the virus.”
—Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services
Global markets:Asian shares held their ground on Tuesday in a volatile session following one of Wall Street’s biggest one-day routs in history as headlines about the coronavirus outbreak and its global economic impact whiplashed investor sentiment, Reuters reported.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, as was Japan’s Nikkei stock index which traded either side of even through a bumpy day.
European markets started higher but gave up their early gains to trade lower.
