Stock markets post worst losses in history; Sensex crashes 3,935 points amid coronavirus lockdown
The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) registered their worst single-day fall in history after they settled around 13 per cent lower on Monday amid lockdowns and curfew across various parts of the country to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Both the frontline indices had hit their 10 per cent lows during the early morning deals triggering a circuit breaker, following which the trade was suspended for a period of 45 minutes. After the trade resumed, the indices extended their losses and slipped as much as per cent in the last hour of trade.
This is the second time during this month that trading was halted because of fears over the spread of coronavirus which has threatened to bring world economies to a halt.
The S&P BSE Sensex declined 3,934.72 points (13.15 per cent) to settle at 25,981.24, while the broader Nifty 50 fell 1,135.20 points (12.98 per cent) to end at 7,610.25. This was the worst performance for both the benchmarks in their history.
During the day, the 30-share BSE benchmark had crashed a whopping 4,035.13 points (13.49 per cent) to hit an intraday low of 25,880.83. The 50-share NSE benchmark too had cracked 1,161.85 points (13.29 per cent) to a low of 7,583.60. In the morning, the Sensex had crashed 2,991.85 points (10 per cent) to hit 26,924.11, while the Nifty fell 842.45 points (9.63 per cent) to slip to 7,903.00, following which trading got suspended for 45 minutes. Both the indices had opened over 8 per cent lower today.
All the Sensex stocks ended in a sea of red on Monday. Axis Bank was the worst performer of the day slipping 28 per cent. It was followed by Bajaj Finance (down 23.57 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (23.5 per cent).
Indian express
