Coronavirus melts stock markets; investors' wealth plummets over Rs 10 lakh crore in first hour of trade

New Delhi: Investor wealth plummeted by over Rs 10 lakh crore in the first hour of trade on Monday as the equity markets went into a tailspin and sank 10 percent. Rising cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) has hit market sentiment negatively, with the equity markets starting the week with a massive selloff. [caption id=“attachment_5263731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative image. Reuters[/caption] The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped by Rs 10,29,847.17 crore to Rs 1,05,79,296.12 crore just before the trading was halted for 45 minutes. Markets took a heavy beating as the BSE benchmark index plunged 2,991.85 points or 10 percent — its lower circuit limit. All the constituents from the BSE 30-share index witnessed selling led by Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance, tanking up to 19.98 percent. All the sectoral indices too traded with heavy losses led by bank, realty and finance. Market heavyweights RIL tumbled 11.57 percent and TCS tanked 5.84 percent.