Black Friday on bourses as equity indices crash on COVID-19 impact worldwide

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Investors woke up to a Black Friday as equity indices crashed by nearly 10 per cent with coronavirus panic selling globally hitting almost every asset class.

At 10 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 3,091 points or 9.43 per cent to 29,688 while the Nifty 50 cracked by 966 points or 10.07 per cent to 8,624.

The trading was halted for the 45 minutes as the Nifty hit a 10 per cent lower circuit.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were floating in red with Nifty IT down by 13.15 per cent, PSU bank by 12.96 per cent, metal by 11.83 per cent and auto by 11.38 per cent.

Among stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank was the top loser after dropping by over 20 per cent at Rs 1,172.05 per share. Bharat Petroleum Corporation slipped by 16.7 per cent, GAIL by 15.3 per cent and ONGC by 14 per cent.

IT majors HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services suffered losses of 15.8 per cent, 15 per cent and 14 per cent respectively. The other prominent losers were IndusInd Bank and Adani Ports.

Meanwhile, global stock markets crashed with coronavirus panic selling hitting almost every asset class. Gold and oil fell and once-safe sovereign bonds slumped as investors liquidated everything they could to cover losses.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped as far as 10 per cent and headed for its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.

In South Korea, the Kospi fell by 7.7 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down by 5 per cent and China’s Shanghai composite slumped by 3 per cent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,353 lower at 21,201, the S&P 500 tanked 9.5 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite ended 9.4 per cent lower at 7,202.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic and US President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States over COVID-19.

(ANI)