Sensex plunges 811 points in fag-end selloff, Nifty below 9,000-mark as coronavirus fears grip global markets; ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance among top losers

Equity benchmark indices erased the gains in the morning session and declined more than 3 percent towards the end of closing on Tuesday even as fears over the coronavirus pandemic kept the investors jittery.

After opening on a positive note, the 30-share index gyrated 1,653 points during the day. It finally settled 810.98 points or 2.58 percent lower at 30,579.09.

Sensex at 30,579.09, down by 810.98 points. pic.twitter.com/6d5PcbbOzW

— ANI (@ANI) March 17, 2020

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty slumped 230.35 points or 2.50 percent to close at 8,967.05.

Top losers in the Sensex pack included ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, HDFC, Infosys and SBI.

On the other hand, HUL, Hero MotoCorp, PowerGrid, Maruti and Asian Paints were among the gainers.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were in the negative terrain with Nifty financial service down by 4.6 percent, private bank by 4.1 percent, realty by 2.4 percent and IT by 2.6 percent.

Among stocks, Zee Entertainment plunged by 20 percent to Rs 133 per share after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued fresh summons to Chairman Subhash Chandra in connection with loans given by cash-strapped Yes Bank, reported ANI.

IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank dropped by 9.2 percent and 8.9 percent respectively while Tata Motors skidded by 6.5 percent. The other prominent losers were Bharti Infratel, UPL, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, GAIL, and JSW Steel.

But Yes Bank share price rose by 59.3 percent on 17 March after Moody’s upgraded its ratings with a positive outlook. It has upgraded bank’s long-term foreign-currency issuer and foreign currency senior unsecured medium-term note (MTN) programme ratings to Caa1 from Caa3 and (P)Caa1 from (P)Caa3 respectively.

The other major winners were Hindustan Lever, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, and Coal India.

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, reported PTI.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Seoul ended in the red, while Hong Kong and Tokyo turned positive.

Markets in Europe cracked up to 3 percent in early trade.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated marginally to 74.20 per US dollar (intra-day).

Brent crude oil futures fell 1.06 percent to $29.73 per barrel.

The number of deaths around the world linked to the virus has topped 7,000, after Italy announced a new surge in fatalities, with over 1,75,000 infections recorded globally so far.

In India, the number of infected cases stood at 126, as per the union health ministry.

-- With inputs from agencies