Sensex logged its biggest single-day fall in 2020 on mayhem in global markets after coronavirus spread fast to other countries apart from China. Sensex crashed 1,194 points to 38,551 in early trade compared to the previous close of 39,745.
Investors lost around Rs 5 lakh crore wealth within minutes after market opened lower tracking its global peers. BSE market capitalisation which stood at Rs 152 lakh crore on Thursday plunged to Rs 147.12 lakh crore in trade today.
Traders said investor sentiments also remained fragile amid incessant foreign fund outflows. On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,127.36 crore on Thursday, data available with stock exchanges showed. Foreign investors have sold equities worth Rs 9,389 crore so far this week.
Indian investors have lost over Rs 10.67 lakh crore since the beginning of this week. Nifty too plunged 364 points to 11,269 against its previous close of 11,633. Midcap and small cap indices on BSE fell nearly 400 points each. India VIX rose 22.30% signalling heightened volatility in the market.
All 30 Sensex stocks were trading in the red. Nifty components too fell in to negative territory. Analysts said investors were waiting for the bottom to re-enter the market which would see a sharp V-shape recovery.
Fall in domestic benchmark indices followed overnight crash in US markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 1,190.95 points, its largest one-day point drop in history, bringing its loss for the week to 3,225.77 points, or 11.1%. The benchmark S&P 500 index was down more than 4% on Thursday.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 tumbled to 26,157.36 while the Shanghai Composite Exchange lost 2.9% to 2,904.92. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2.3% to 26,157.36. The Kospi in Seoul fell 2.2% to 2,007.89 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 sank 2.3% to 6,502.6. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets also retreated.
By Aseem Thapliyal