Indian equity indices on Monday, March 9, continued its bear run with the BSE Sensex plunging over 2400 points over recent developments related to Yes Bank, the spread of coronavirus epidemic worldwide and crashing crude oil prices.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock also slumped over 650 points to trade below the 10,600 mark.
At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 35,144, lower than 2400 points or 6.4 per cent from its previous close of 37,576.62. ONGC (down 15 per cent), Reliance Industries (down 13 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down over 8.5 per cent), and Tata Steel (down over 7 per cent) were the top laggards in the Sensex pack.
It had opened at the intra-day high of 36,950.20 and has so far touched a low of 35,929.99.
The broader Nifty50 index slipped below the 10,350 levels, down around 650 points, or 6 per cent. All the Nifty sectoral indices were in the red. Nifty Metal index, down 4 per cent, bled the most.
Crude tumbles 30%, India to gain
The bloodbath in the oil market has continued into the new week with crude oil prices slumping to around 30 per cent on Monday to just about $30 a barrel after Saudi Arabia shocked the market by launching a price war against one-time ally Russia.
Crude is trading down 22 per cent to $32 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, has also plunged 22 per cent to $35 a barrel. Both oil contracts are on track for their worst day since 1991 Gulf War.
US oil prices crashed as much as 27 per cent to a four-year low of $30 a barrel.
In a tweet on Sunday Kotak Mahindra Bank managing director and CEO Uday Kotak said: "Amidst turbulence and the virus, some good news - oil at $45/barrel. Recent $20 drop saves India $30 billion per annum. Also, global interest rates have collapsed making money cheap. Let's leverage these for policy to boost growth."
(With IANS inputs)
