Sensex plunges over 800 points, Nifty slumps 227 points in early trade as economic package fails to impress

Sensex plunged over 800 points in opening session on Monday dragged by losses in banking stocks as the government’s fiscal stimulus package failed to revive confidence in domestic investors.

#CNBCTV18Market | Financials drag market, Nifty Bank down more than 2%. #Nifty below 9,100 and #Sensex below 31,000 pic.twitter.com/76gel5iUax

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 18, 2020

After hitting a low of 30,265.67, the 30-share index was trading 731.91 points or 2.35 percent lower at 30,365.82. Similarly, NSE Nifty slumped 226.90 points, or 2.48 percent, to 8,909.95. ICICI Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, cracking around 6 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, SBI, Bajaj Finance, Titan, Maruti, IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid and ONGC. [caption id=“attachment_8115511” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. News18[/caption] On the other hand, Infosys and TCS were trading with gains. In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 25.16 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 31,097.73, and the broader Nifty slipped 5.90 points, or 0.06 per cent, to close at 9,136.85. Manish Hathiramani, Index trader and market analyst, Deen Dayal InvestmentsThe Nifty50 has fiercely broken its support of 9,040 which it was trying to hold last week. This has happened on the back of good volumes. The market should try and achieve its next support and target of 8,750 and this could happen during the course of this week as well. Until then every up move becomes an opportunity to go short on the Nifty. The resistance for the week would be between 9,150-9,200. Around 10 AM, the Sensex was trading at 30,359.56. lower by 738.17 points or 2.37 per cent from the previous close of 31,097.73. It had opened at 31,248.26 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 31,248.26 and a low of 30,265.67. The Nifty50 was trading at 8,916.70, lower by 220.15 points or 2.41 per cent from the previous close. On Sunday, the government extended a nationwide lockdown to 31 May, while easing some restrictions, but a ban on air travel and several public gatherings still remained. As of Monday, India’s tally of coronavirus infections surged past 96,000, while deaths surpassed 3,000. Shares in drugmaker Cipla jumped 2 percent after March-quarter results on Friday and its filing of a new drug application for a generic version of GSK’s blockbuster lung drug Advair. Oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd gained 1 percent after unveiling yet another sizeable investment in its digital arm. Foreign portfolio investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,388.04 crore in the capital market on Friday, provisional exchange data showed. Doubts over the effectiveness of the fiscal stimulus package, extension of the nationwide lockdown and spike in COVID-19 cases in the country weighed on investor sentiment, traders said. The government, in its first four tranches of the stimulus package, focussed on credit line to small businesses and new fund creations to be shouldered by banks and financial institutions with very little extra budget spending. In the last set of measures, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced plans to privatise PSUs in non-strategic sectors and suspend loan default-triggered bankruptcy filings for one year, and also gave a Rs 40,000-crore hike in allocation for the rural employment guarantee scheme to provide jobs to migrant workers. Further, the government last night extended the lockdown for two more weeks with the fourth phase providing more relaxations outside the containment zones. Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases in India spiked to 96,169, while the death toll rose to 3,029, according to the health ministry. Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 47.13 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.15 lakh. Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a positive note. International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 2.77 percent higher at $33.40 per barrel. --With inputs from agencies