The Indian stocks market crashed early on Friday, Feb 28 with the Sensex falling 1,100 points as coronavirus fears deepened. At 9.50 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 38,597.53, lower by 1,148.13 points or 2.89 per cent from the previous close of 39,745.66. It had opened at the intra-day high of 39,087.47 and has so far touched a low of 38,587.51 points.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 11,297.45, lower by 335.85 points or 2.89 per cent from its previous close. Concerns of coronavirus turning into a pandemic and spreading into countries outside China have off late impacted investor sentiments both in the global and domestic markets.
Worst week in 4 years due to coronavirus outbreak
Indian shares fell on Friday, tracking steep falls in world markets, and set for their worst week in four years on growing fears that the coronavirus outbreak could turn into a pandemic and derail global growth.
Investors will likely focus on the release of the December quarter growth data for clues on how Asia's third-largest economy fared in the last three months of 2019. The Nifty fell 2.5% to 11,341.65 by 0348 GMT and the Sensex declined 2.52 per cent to 38,760. Both the indexes have shed about 6 per cent so far this week, on track for their worst week since Feb. 12, 2016.
Overnight, the Dow registered a record one-day points drop on Thursday and the S&P 500 confirmed its fastest correction in history, while world share markets were headed for the worst week since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.
"Until last week, the market was of the view that coronavirus is going to have only a minimum impact on global economy ... An increase in the number of new cases is changing the view," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said in a note. "There are fears of some slowdown in the economy."
India's economy grew at 4.7 per cent in the December quarter, according to the median forecast of a Reuters poll of economists, marginally higher than 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter. The economy had expanded at its weakest pace in over six years in the September quarter.
All Nifty 50 shares were trading in the negative territory, with Tech Mahindra leading the losses, down 5.5%
The blue-chip Nifty 50 index is off over 8.5 per cent from its lifetime high hit on Jan. 20, weighed down by the coronavirus outbreak and a lacklustre federal budget.
(Inputs from wires)
