Sensex plummets over 1,200 points; Nifty below 8,700

Equity benchmark Sensex plunged over 1,200 points in afternoon session on Wednesday (March 18) as global markets failed to hold on to early gains and resumed their downward spiral.

The rupee too receded from morning highs depreciating 5 paise to 74.29 against US dollar.

Investor gloom returned despite signals of massive stimulus packages by federal governments, traders said.

The BSE barometer oscillated over 1,600 points in a highly volatile session. It was trading 1,227.65 points or 4.01 per cent lower at 29,351.44 at 1230 hours.

Similarly, the boarder Nifty plunged nearly 500 points from the days high, trading 343.85 points, or 3.83 per cent, down at 8,623.20.

IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tanking over 32 per cent. Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, SBI and Titan were also trading significantly lower.

According to traders, domestic equities failed to hold on to early gains as concerns over an economic recession continued to hammer investor sentiment.

Market participants were on edge as slowdown fear is leading company heads to plead for billions in government help to prevent them going under, experts said.

Before market hours this morning, S&P Global Ratings lowered India’s economic growth forecast to 5.2 per cent for 2020, saying the global economy is entering a recession amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The agency had earlier projected a growth rate of 5.7 per cent during the 2020 calendar.

Asia-Pacific economic growth in 2020 will more than halve to less than 3 per cent as the “global economy enters a recession”, S&P said in a statement.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Japan too plunged up to 5 per cent.

Global stocks opened higher as hopes of economic stimuli from governments gave some temporary respite to the increasing woes of investors.

US stocks recovered in overnight trade after reports that US President Donald Trump will ask Congress to approve a massive USD 850 billion emergency spending package to contain the growing economic damage from the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic that will include a payroll tax cut and a bailout for airlines.

The number of deaths around the world linked to Covid-19 has topped 7,400, with over 1,80,000 infections recorded globally so far.

In India, the number of infected cases stood at 130, as per union health ministry log.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell over 1.53 per cent to USD 28.29 per barrel.