Mumbai, Mar 12: Bloodbath was witnessed at Dalal Street on Thursday as the benchmark index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) plummeted by 2919.26 points to settle at 32,778.14, a 33-month-low.
It was the biggest one-day fall as WHO declared coronavirus ‘Pandemic’, triggering travel bans globally, and sending shock waves across financial and commodity markets, along with global markets.
Continuing US-China trade dispute and subdued global demand would keep prices low in the near term.
The BSE indices fell 8.18 pc and Nifty 8.30 pc.
So far in the day’s trade, investor wealth worth over Rs 8 lakh crore has been wiped off.
The day opened in red, as the BSE sensex fell by 1225 pts to 34,472.50. Its free fall journey was seen throughout the day, as it slumped by 3204 pts to 32,493.10, day low before closing at 32,778.14, sliding by 2919.26 pts from its last close.
The small cap and mid cap too dropped by 8.72 and 7.84 pc respectively.
In sectoral indices Materials was a major loser, down by 9.19 pc followed by Energy, FMCG, Finance, ITC and Industrials dragged the market further, a broker said. In scrips, SBI was worst hit, down by 13.23 pc to Rs 212.75 followed by ONGC, Axis Bank, ITC and TCS.
On the BSE, 217 shares rose and 2,239 shares fell. A total of 108 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, all 50 stocks declined.
In the global market, the shares crumbled after US President Donald Trump said the United States will suspend all travel from Europe as he unveiled measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic that has extracted a heavy human and economic toll worldwide.
Oil prices were hit by intensifying price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, on top of fears of sharp slowdown in the global economy.
Saudi Arabia promised to raise oil output to a record high in its standoff with Russia. The United Arab Emirates followed Saudi Arabia in promising to raise oil output to a record high in April.
In the short run, margin calls and stop losses are triggering panic selling in the market which is creating a cyclical effect as this is further pushing the stock prices downwards.
Shares in Europe and Asia slumped on Thursday after the United States suspended all travel from Europe in order to contain the coronavirus epidemic that has extracted a heavy human and economic toll worldwide.
Meanwhile, auto sales in China plunged 79.1% in February, marking their biggest ever monthly decline, as a coronavirus outbreak hit demand, data from the country’s largest auto industry association showed on Thursday.
In US, stocks slumped on Wednesday, with the Dow ending in bear-market territory for the first time in more than a decade, after the World Health Organization designated the global spread of COVID-19 a pandemic, unnerving investors already disappointed with the lack of an economic policy response from the Trump administration.
