Panic over pandemic in India: Sensex crashes over 3,000 points, Nifty below 9,600

Foreign net outflows from Thai equities were 20.1 billion baht for the first 11 months. The second quarter was the only period where foreign investors were net buyers of Thai shares this year.  PORNPROM SATRABHAYA. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

NEW DELHI, Mar 12, 2020, India Today. Indian markets on Thursday went through a meltdown as Sensex is set for its biggest decline since 2008 while Nifty has fallen below 9,600 for the first time since July 2017. Domestic markets nosedived deeper into bear territory after the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak a pandemic, India Today reported.

At around 14:50 pm, Sensex was trading lower by almost 3,000 points and has fallen below 33,000 points. Nifty, too, has descended sharply to fall below 9,600 points. This is one of the biggest stock market scares India has witnessed in a long time.

Besides the benchmarks, all sectoral indices were trading in red as investors brace for more impact from the virus outbreak. There was absolute carnage on Dalal Street since morning as a large share of investor wealth was wiped off the stock markets.

Today’s freefall in the domestic stock market was in line with global markets as US benchmark Daw Jones and other European stocks fell sharply on fears of rising cases worldwide. Asian stocks have also been bearish due to increased volatility stemming from the outbreak.

Some of the biggest losers in today’s trading session were due to HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank and ITC.

Shares of aviation and tourism companies also plunged after India temporarily suspended all tourist visas till April 15. The United States has also suspended all travel to Europe till the spread of the virus reduces.

India has reported a total of 73 confirmed cases and the government is taking precautionary measures to prevent further spread of the deadly virus. Meanwhile, global infections have gone up to almost 1,20,000 while the death toll has crossed 4,500. No deaths have been reported in India yet.

Global Panic

Markets around the world were stunned after US President Donald Trump suspended all travel to the United States from Europe, except from the United Kingdom, for 30 days starting Friday, as Pan Pacific Agency reported.

US S&P 500 futures plunged as much as 4.9 per cent, while Euro Stoxx 50 futures tumbled 8.3 per cent to mid-2016 lows. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 3.2 per cent.

India too said it would suspend a vast majority of visas to the country to contain the virus.

All stocks on the blue-chip indexes in Mumbai were trading in the red, dragged down mostly by large-cap energy and financial shares.

Top private-sector lender HDFC Bank Ltd caused the biggest damage to the indexes, sliding 9.5 per cent to its lowest since November 2018.

Oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd fell as much as 9.1 per cent to a more than 16-month low.

Fund managers and market analysts said the bulk of selling came from foreign institutional investors.

“There has been some pullout of the easy money and liquidity that was driving markets higher so far,” said Mahesh Patil, co-chief investment officer at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC in Mumbai, whose team manages some $12 billion in equities.

“We don’t know where the bottom is.”

India is set to release retail inflation data for February later in the day that is expected to fall to a three-month low due to moderating food prices.

Share it


Exclusive: Beyond the Covid-19 world's coverage