Corona impact: Financials drags market lower, volatility high

Mumbai, March 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Heavy volatility on the back of coronavirus' economic fallout along with selling pressure in the financial stocks battered the key Indian stock markets -- S&P BSE Sensex and the NSENifty50 -- which erased all the day's gains to end in the red.

The key indices remained in the green for the better part of the day's trade, however, the emergence of massive selling pressure in the last hour of session pulled the main indices into the red.

The NSE Nifty50 ended below the psychologically important mark of 9,000 points. It closed the day's trade down 230.35 points or 2.50 per cent at 8,967.05 points, while the BSE Sensex slumped over 810.98 points or 2.58 per cent to end at 30,579.09.

The 'Fear Index' or India 'VIX' logged one of the steepest single day jump of 7 per cent to the 63 level, which is the highest in over a decade.

Heavy selling was witnessed across sectors led by banking and finance stocks. Only FMCG and pharma sectors ended flat.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures fell below $30 per barrel.

"Concerns over the fast spreading coronavirus across the globe will most likely continue to weigh on the markets," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

"Thus volatility is likely to continue in the near term with downward pressure on the markets."

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said: "Asian markets fluctuated on Tuesday after Wall Street suffered its worst day in more than three decades with coronavirus panic sweeping the planet."

"European equities also turned negative after an early bounce. Cash market turnover was lower than the previous session as investors waited on the sidelines for markets to settle down."

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said that with Central Banks' monetary policy actions having limited impact, "calls were out for more actions to contain the spread of the virus".

Source: IANS