Sensex plunges by 5.4 pc as COVID-19 pandemic cripples life and businesses globally

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 19 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices floundered during early hours on Thursday with eroding investor confidence due to worries about the economic impact of coronavirus pandemic.
In money markets, the rupee fell to a low of 74.89 versus the US dollar.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 1,571 points or 5.44 per cent to 27,299 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 456 points or 5.38 per cent to 8,013.
All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative terrain with Nifty private bank down by 8.2 per cent, financial service by 8 per cent, realty by 7 per cent and auto by 6.5 per cent.
Among stocks, Bharti Infratel dropped by 15.1 per cent to Rs 127.15 per share while IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank traded lower by 12.4 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively.
Yes Bank was down by 13.65 per cent, a day after resuming complete services which were stopped as the Reserve Bank of India placed it under moratorium earlier this month.
Bajaj Finance lost by 14.4 per cent and Bajaj Finserv by 10.4 per cent. The other prominent losers were ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, HCL Technologies and Asian Paints.
However, Power Grid Corporation and NTPC witnessed marginal gains.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 1,338 points to close at 19,899, its first close below 20,000 since February 2017. The S&P 500 fell by 5.2 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 4.7 per cent to close at 6,990.
As a result, Asian markets traded lower in Thursday's session as fears over the economic impact of coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on equity markets.
South Korea's Kospi led the losses with a drop of 8 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 4 per cent and Japan's Nikkei erased early gains and to trade lower by 1 per cent.
(ANI)