Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 18 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices were in the negative zone during early hours on Wednesday as worries about coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes that broad policy will easily curb the economic impact of the outbreak.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 468 points or 1.53 per cent to 30,112 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 112 points or 1.25 per cent to 8,855. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank and realty down by 1.5 per cent each. Nifty financial service dipped by 2.2 per cent, auto by 1.4 per cent and FMCG by 0.09 per cent.
Among stocks, IndusInd Bank dropped by 5.28 per cent to Rs 572.25 per share while Axis Bank traded lower by 5.5 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 3.9 per cent and ICICI Bank by 3.5 per cent. The other prominent losers were Bajaj Finance, Dr Reddy’s, Titan, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hero MotoCorp. But Yes Bank continued its upward swing by 26.7 per cent to Rs 74.35 per share as it prepared to resume operations in the evening after the moratorium on private sector lender is lifted.
The other prominent winners were Sun Pharma, Vedanta and Infosys.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed as stocks on Wall Street bounced back overnight. In Japan, the Nikkei gained by 0.94 per cent, Shanghai Composite by 1.26 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng by 0.08 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi by 0.16 per cent. On Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed an 850 billion dollar stimulus bill to blunt the economic hit from coronavirus while many other governments look to fiscal stimulus.
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