Indian equities began the last week ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget for financial year 2020-21 on a shaky ground with most counters collapsing like a pack of cards on Monday.
Metal stocks were under heavy selling pressure on Monday as investors grew increasingly anxious about the economic impact of spreading of China's Coronavirus outbreak. Tata Steel was the top loser on the S&P BSE Sensex at close, down nearly 4 per cent.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex plunged 458.07 points, or 1.10 per cent, to settle at 41,155.12 level. Apart from Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, and State Bank of India were the top laggards. In the intra-day trade, the index tanked 490 points to hit a low of 41,122.48.
On the NSE, the broader Nifty50 ended the day at 12,119-mark, down 129.25 points or 1.06 per cent. In the intra-day trade, the index erased 141 points to hit low of 12,107-mark.
India VIX -- the volatility index -- jumped nearly 11 per cent in the intra-day trade.
Sectorally, all the key indices closed in the red barring Nifty Pharma index, which was up 1.4 per cent. Nifty Metal index was the top loser, down 3 per cent, on the NSE, followed by Nifty PSU Bank (down 2 per cent), and Nifty Bank index (down 1 per cent).
In the broader markets, mid and small-caps performed relatively better than the benchmarks on Monday. The S&P BSE mid-cap index slipped 0.4 per cent to settle at 15,759.01 level. The S&P BSE small-cap index, on the contrary, settled unchanged at 14,846.51.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Stocks tumbled on Monday as investors grew increasingly anxious about the economic impact of China’s spreading virus outbreak, with demand spiking for safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and Treasury notes.
Japan's Nikkei average suffered a steep 1.8 per cent loss, on track for the biggest one-day fall in three weeks. US S&P 500 mini futures was last down 0.9 per cent, having fallen 1.3 per cent in early Asian trade. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.2 per cent, although trade in the region has already slowed for the Lunar New Year and other holidays, with financial markets in China, Hong Kong and Australia closed on Monday.
In the commodities market, Brent Crude Futures were hovering around 3-month lows following concerns of demand disruption following the outbreak of Corona virus in China. At 3:15 pm, the futures were at $57.99 per barrel-mark, down over 3 per cent. WTI Crude, on the other hand, was at $52.41, down by similar percentage.
(With inputs from Reuters)
 "MARKET WRAP: Sensex tanks over 450 pts amid global sell-off; metals tumble")
