E-Paper
Sensex drops 500 points to 48,650 in early trade, Nifty tanks 140 pts to 14,400
The fall in indices comes in the backdrop of massive increase in cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country.
After opening on a low note, the domestic equity indices continued to trade in red on Thursday with BSE Sensex falling over 450 points to trade below 48,800 while the broader Nifty tumbled 130 points in early trade.
At 10:45am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 523.19 points or 1.06% to trade at 48,657.12 while the 50-share benchmark Nifty was down 142.75 points or 0.98% at 14,406.65 .
IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, which shed nearly 2%, followed by Maruti, SBI, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank. ONGC, Titan, L&T and Dr Reddy’s were among the gainers.
In the previous session, the Sensex ended 871.13 points or 1.74% lower at 49,180.31, and the Nifty declined 265.35 points or 1.79% to 14,549.40.
The fall in indices comes in the backdrop of massive increase in cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country. On Thursday, India recorded a jump of over 53,476 cases, which is the highest in over five months.
"The uncertainty in the market continues with increasing risk arising from the second wave of Covid-19 attack in India in the context of a third wave in parts of Europe," VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, told news agency PTI.
With soaring cases, the government has temporarily halted all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India in order to meet domestic demand first.
"Though we have not seen any major correction in the benchmark yet, the uneasiness is certainly increasing with the rapid rise in the COVID cases. Besides, global cues are also mixed. Put together, indications are now pointing towards further slide in the index while volatility is likely to remain high due to the scheduled expiry of March month contracts" said Religare Broking told its investors in a note, according to HT’s sister publication Mint.
Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were in the red in mid-session deals, while Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a positive note. Wall Street indices also ended with significant losses in overnight trade.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.41% lower at $63.50 per barrel.
