Sensex Down 2,700 Points, Nifty Below 9,200 As Virus Fear Rattles Markets

Sensex, Nifty plunge amid global selloff, virus scare among investors Surprise rate cut by US central bank fails to allay investor concerns HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank heaviest laggards in Sensex

Edited by Sandeep Singh (with inputs from agencies)

16 Mar 2020, 03:14 PM IST

A selloff across sectors hurt the markets, with financial stocks being the worst hit

At 3:01 pm, the Sensex traded 2,683.50 points - or 7.85 per cent - lower at 31,427.18, while the Nifty was down 748 points - or 7.50 per cent - at 9,202.20.
All stocks but one in the Nifty basket of 50 shares moved lower at the time. Top percentage laggards were IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Adani Ports, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Zee Entertainment and Vedanta, trading between 9.82 per cent and 17.72 per cent lower.
HDFC, HDFC, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the top drags on Sensex, accounting for a fall of more than 1,000 points in the index.
The NSE's India VIX index - a gauge of the markets' expectation of volatility in the near term - was up 13.57 per cent at the time, after soaring as much as 13.73 per cent in afternoon deals.
Yes Bank shares, however, bucked the trend with a jump of 58 per cent during the session, despite the private sector lender reporting a net loss of Rs 18,654 crore for the December quarter. A moratorium on withdrawals from Yes Bank accounts will be lifted on Wednesday. The Nifty Bank - comprising stocks of 12 major lenders in the country - was down 8.32 per cent at the time, after having fallen 8.50 per cent at the weakest level during the day.
SBI Cards and Payment Services shares made a weak debut, with the stock beginning the day at a discount of 12 per cent as the worsening coronavirus scenario continued to batter the markets. SBI Cards shares opened at Rs 661 compared to the issue price of Rs 755 per share. The shares are currently trading at Rs 728.
Meanwhile, equity markets in other parts of the world were hammered after emergency rate cuts in the US and New Zealand, and a raft of steps by policymakers worldwide failed to stem the rout in markets spooked by the broadening fallout of the coronavirus. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 per cent, to a level not seen since early 2017, while Japan's Nikkei was up 0.1 per cent following an over 6 per cent decline on Friday to the lowest since late 2016 and South Korea's KOSPI was a shade weaker.
Overnight in the US, the Federal Reserve cut the key interest rate by 100 basis points to a target range of 0 per cent to 0.25 per cent, saying that it would expand its balance sheet by at least $700 billion in coming weeks.
Meanwhile, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is scheduled to address a press conference at 4 pm. There is an increasing clamor for the central bank to take measures to cushion the pain in the economy as the rising number of coronavirus cases are resulting in closure of malls, multiplexes and other businesses across the country.
Despite the gain of around 4 per cent each in S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 on Friday, in a dramatic recovery following an intra-day plunge of more than 10 per cent that triggered a trading halt for the first time in more than a decade.