Mumbai, Mar 25: Equity benchmark Sensex plunged 740 points on Thursday, dragged by losses in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank as monthly derivatives expired amid weak cues from global markets.
The Sensex ended 740 points or 1.51 per cent lower at 48,440 and Nifty 50 index dropped 225 points or 1.54 per cent to end at 14,325.
India's daily Covid-19 cases hit a five-month high on Thursday and the country put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot made by the Serum Institute of India to meet domestic demand.
"The market is definitely worried about the impact of the spread of Covid-19. There would be an economic impact and there are fears over a partial lockdown," KK Mittal, an investment adviser at Venus India told news agency Reuters.
Advertisement
The 30-share BSE index ended 740.19 points or 1.51 per cent lower at 48,440.12, and the broader NSE Nifty declined 224.50 points or 1.54 per cent to 14,324.90.
Maruti was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 4 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, HUL, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, ONGC and Reliance Industries.
On the other hand, Dr Reddy’s, ICICI Bank, L&T and HDFC were the gainers.
"Domestic equities fell for the third consecutive day despite favourable cues from Asian markets as prevailing concerns with regards to sharp rise in Covid-19 cases have clearly dented investors’ sentiments," said Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities.
Advertisement
Barring financials and metals, all key sectoral indices ended in red.
Further, futures and options (F&O) expiry factor also contributed to volatility, he noted, adding that market capitalisation of the domestic market slipped below Rs 200 trillion first time after February 3, 2021, resulting in wealth erosion of over Rs 5 trillion in the last two days.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were in the red, while Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note.
Stock exchanges in Europe were trading with losses in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.35 per cent lower at $63.54 per barrel.
