Sensex down 1,709.58 points, Nifty ends at 8,541.50; indices close to their lowest levels in 3 years

New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices on Wednesday closed in the red amid continuous sell-off on the third straight session with both Sensex and Nifty dropping to their lowest levels in three years. The Sensex closed 1,709.58 points down or 5.59% at 28,869.51, while Nifty settled at 425.55 points down or 4.75% at 8,541.50. Major gainers on the Nifty were Zee Entertainment, ONGC, Yes Bank, ITC and SBI while IndusInd Bank, Bharti Infratel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Bajaj Finance were top losers.

Around 3.15 pm, Sensex was trading at 28,780.93, lower by 1,798.16 points or 5.88 per cent from the previous close of 30,579.09. At 3:00 pm, the Sensex was down 1,612.02 points at 28967.07, and the Nifty too was down 470.15 points at 8496.90 amid continuous sell-off on the Dalal-Street. 

Equity benchmark indices cracked by 3.6 per cent today afternoon as investors worried over the economic impact of coronavirus pandemic despite broad policy measures globally. At 12:50 pm, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 1,111 points or 3.63 per cent to 29,469 while the Nifty 50 fell by 334 points or 3.73 per cent to 8,633.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank down by 7.6 per cent, financial service by 5.1 per cent, realty by 2.7 per cent and auto by 2.4 per cent. 

During early hours on Wednesday, equity benchmark indices were in the negative zone amid coronavirus outbreak. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 468 points or 1.53 per cent to 30,112 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 112 points or 1.25 per cent to 8,855. 

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank and realty down by 1.5 per cent each. Nifty financial service dipped by 2.2 per cent, auto by 1.4 per cent and FMCG by 0.09 per cent. 

Among stocks, IndusInd Bank dropped by 5.28 per cent to Rs 572.25 per share while Axis Bank traded lower by 5.5 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 3.9 per cent and ICICI Bank by 3.5 per cent. The other prominent losers were Bajaj Finance, Dr Reddy`s, Titan, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hero MotoCorp. But Yes Bank continued its upward swing by 26.7 per cent to Rs 74.35 per share as it prepared to resume operations in the evening after the moratorium on private sector lender is lifted.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed as stocks on Wall Street bounced back overnight. In Japan, the Nikkei gained by 0.94 per cent, Shanghai Composite by 1.26 per cent, Hong Kong`s Hang Seng by 0.08 per cent and South Korea`s Kospi by 0.16 per cent.

In currency markets, the safe-haven yen gained sharply while the dollar held onto hefty overnight gains against other currencies. The dollar slipped 0.1% against the yen to 107.53 yen while the euro stood at $1.0971. The dollar index against a basket of currencies stood at 99.699, up 0.12% on the day.

Oil prices fell as the outlook for fuel demand darkened with travel and social lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus epidemic. US crude was down 84 cents, or 3.12%, at $26.11 a barrel by 0822 GMT, having earlier fallen to $25.83 a barrel, the lowest since May 2003.

(With Agency Inputs)