COVID-19 continues to torment Dalal Street; Sensex plunges 850 pts, Nifty breaches 9,000 mark

The impact of the coronavirus has continued to be overtly visible on Dalal Street on Tuesday. As Sensex plunged 811 points, Nifty breached the 9,000 mark for the first time in 3 years. Volatility in the market continued as India witnessed its third death due to COVID-19.

Sell-offs in banks, IT stocks has dragged the market down. At close, the Sensex was down 810.98 points or 2.58% at 30,579.09, and the Nifty was down 230.70 points or 2.51% at 8,966.70. About 765 shares advanced, 1624 shares declined, and 152 shares were unchanged.

Auto stocks like Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp were among major gainers. Crisis struck Yes Bank also saw major gains throughout the day. Entertainment stocks like PVR and ZEE Entertainment were in the red.

Except for the FMCG and Pharma sectors, all other indices ended in the red, extending the loses at Dalal Street which has seen a major downturn in the last 10 days.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shed 1-2 percent.

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.

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 per cent in early trade.

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

Brent crude oil futures fell 1.06 per cent to USD 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.