Market Mayhem: Sensex sinks 810 points after early recovery, Nifty at 8,967 as global stocks bleed

Domestic benchmarks Sensex and Nifty dropped majorly by the last hour of trade and closed 2.5% lower on Tuesday, due to major sell-off in global equities. Extending losses from yesterday's session, Sensex tanked 810 points to close at 30,597, while  Nifty fell 230  points to end at 8, 967.

Market breadth was negative, as the advance-decline ratio in both BSE and NSE stood at 0.44, indicating strong bearishness on bourses. Overall 1,182 stocks declined on NSE, with 490 advances compared to 77 unchanged stocks. Similarly, on BSE, 1,656 stocks fell on Tuesday as against 773 gaining scrips, with 163 stocks unchanged. The broader markets BSE-Midcap and BSE-Small cap also fell over 2%.

Zee Entertainment, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Infratel and UPL were among the top losers on NSE. YES Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Coal India were among the top gainers.

Sectorally, except metal and FMCG, all other indices ended in the red, with nearly 6% decline in metal and almost 5% fall in banking and financials scrips.

Market indices erased earlier gains and turned volatile in afternoon session, tracking overseas equity markets that traded cautiously as coronavirus infected cases continued to rise globally.

Earlier on Tuesday, indices took a breather from bearish free-fall and rose higher amid value-buying in recently hammered stocks.

Further investors were optimistic over the sudden announcement by RBI after market hours on Monday. The apex lender not only hinted at a rate cut but also announced some liquidity enhancing measures to contain the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

Overseas, trend has been highly negative amid the heightened fears of COVID-19 cases. While Dow Jones Futures gave up all early gains and traded muted in afternoon session, European markets too tanked within few minutes of the opening, with FTSE100 and CAC40 falling over 3% each and 2% drop in DAX.

On the global crash today, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said," European markets and Dow futures added to the negativity. COVID-19 showed no signs of abatement and with Central Banks monetary policy actions having limited impact, calls were out for more actions to contain the spread of the virus."  

Policymakers worldwide have continued to ensure a globally coordinated response to the coronavirus pandemic by closing borders and banning travel, in a move to correct the declining global growth trend from the virus.

Although the disruption in supply chains and the slowdown in business activities across the coronvirus-hit countries has roiled markets since early March 2020.

Even assurance of liquidity injection by central banks into their respective economies have failed to fuel any optimism, as it spooked the investors over the real impact of the virus on the global economy.

"The markets across the globe are witnessing high volatility and the recent stimulus measures have failed to assuage fears. On the domestic front, markets will continue to follow global cues and therefore further downside cannot be ruled out in the near-term," suggested Ajit Mishra,  VP - Research at Religare Broking.

Besides the outbreak in China, the COVID-19 infection cases have risen drastically outside China, hurting major economies and disrupting supply chains. There are currently 182,605 confirmed cases and 7,171 deaths from the coronavirus outbreak as of March 17, 2020. Of these, 79,881 have been recovered globally. The number of infected cases in India has increased to 129. The death toll from coronavirus in India rose to 3 on Tuesday.

Amit Shah, Technical Research Analyst with Indiabulls Securities commented on Nifty's current outlook that," Nifty's 8,550 zone is important on the downside and a breach of the mentioned support will add further pressure on the downside."

"On the way up 9,400 is likely to act as resistance zone, he further added, while suggesting 8,900-8,550 support levels and 9,150-9,400 resistance mark for the 50-share index.

Earlier on Monday, market indices recorded the second biggest single-day fall and ended 8% lower. While Sensex ended 2,713 points lower at 31,390, Nifty lost 756 points to 9,199.

Share Market Update: Sensex ends 810 points lower, Nifty at 8,968 amid weak global equities