Sensex Slumps Over 800 Points, Nifty Settles Below 9,000

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell sharply in trade on Tuesday as worries of rising coronavirus contagion in the country continue to spook investors' sentiment. The domestic benchmarks traded in a volatile manner, but gave up gains in the last hour of trade as banking and financial services shares came under selling pressure. The Sensex fell as much as 1,653 points from intra-day highs and the Nifty 50 index closed below its crucial psychological level of 9,000.

The Sensex ended 811 points or 2.58 per cent to close at 30,579 and the Nifty 50 index dropped 230 points or 2.5 per cent to close at 8,967.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National stock Exchange ended lower, led by the Nifty Media index's 6 per cent drop. Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Private Bank indexes also fell between 4-4.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty FMCG index rose 0.9 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index slumped 2.5 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index plunged 3 per cent.

ICICI Bank, HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and TCS were the top drags on the Sensex, collectively contributing over 700 points to the  fall in Sensex.

Zee Entertainment was top Nifty loser; the stock fell 20 per cent to close at Rs 133. IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Infratel, UPL, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, GAIL India and JSW Steel also fell 5.4-9.2 per cent each.

On the flip side, Yes Bank surged 59 per cent to Rs 59 after ratings agency Moody's upgraded the private lender's outlook and RBI Governor provided an assurance about deposits in the troubled bank.

Hindustan Unilever, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, Cipla and Asian Paints were also among the gainers.