No respite: Stock indices collapse in fag-end selloff

Mumbai, March 17

Stock indices erased early gains to sink deeper into red on Tuesday as the global equity rout intensified amid the coronavirus-triggered recession fears.

After opening on a positive note, the 30-share BSE Sensex traded modestly higher for a majority of the session, but succumbed to a sudden sell-off in the last hour of trade.

It finally closed 810.98 points or 2.58 per cent lower at 30,579.09, after gyrating 1,653 points during the day.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty slumped 230.35 points or 2.50% to finish at 8,967.05. Nifty has ended below the key 9,000-level after March 2017.

Global markets reeled after the Wall Street suffered its worst crash since the ‘Black Monday’ in October 1987, with the US Fed’s emergency rate cut failing to lift investor sentiment amid the drumbeat of negative news surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unabated foreign fund outflows and a weak rupee further weighed on domestic bourses, traders said.

ICICI Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tumbling 8.95%, followed by IndusInd Bank (8.89%), Bajaj Finance (6.26%), HDFC (4.74%), Infosys (4.68%) and Kotak Bank (4.53%).

On the other hand, HUL spurted 3.49%, Hero MotoCorp 3.09%, Asian Paints 3.05%, PowerGrid 2.53% and Maruti 2.12%.

According to traders, value-buying lifted benchmarks during the first half of the session, but the gains could not be sustained as markets succumbed to coronavirus-led fears of an impending recession. — PTI

Wall Street suffers worst crash SINCE ’87

• After opening on a positive note, the 30-share BSE Sensex traded modestly higher for a majority of the session, but succumbed to a sudden selloff in the last hour of trade
• It finally closed 810.98 points or 2.58% lower at 30,579.09, after gyrating 1,653 points during the day
• Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty slumped 230.35 points or 2.50% to finish at 8,967.05. Nifty has ended below the key 9,000-level after March 2017
• Global markets reeled after the Wall Street suffered its worst crash since the ‘Black Monday’ in October 1987

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