MARKET WRAP: Sensex slips 1,375 pts, financials hit; Nifty ends at 8,281

All that happened in markets today

Equity markets witnessed yet another weak session on Monday as the coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in India continued to rise despite nationwide lockdown. So far, confirmed cases in India have reached 1,071 while 29 people have died due to the disease. CLICK TO VIEW STATE-WISE DETAILS

Further, weak global cues such as fall in global markets and plunge in crude oil prices, too, adversely impacted the investor sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex today slipped 1,375 points or 4.61 per cent to settle at 28,440. Bajaj Finance (down 12 per cent) emerged as the biggest loser on the index while Tech Mahindra was the top performer - up 5 per cent. 

HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Reliance Industries (RIL) contributed the most to the index's losses.

Market breadth was in favour of declines as out of 2,453 companies traded on the BSE, 1,347 declined and 934 advanced while 172 remained unchanged.

Among individual stocks, Abbott India hit a new high in a weak market amid report that Abbott Laboratories, USA, the ulitmate holding company, has received the approval to launch 5-minute coronavirus (COVID-19) test for use almost anywhere. Abbott India is a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories of USA. The stock ended at Rs 15,400 apiece on the BSE, up around 9 per cent. READ MORE

On the NSE, frontline index Nifty ended at 8,281, down 379 points or 4.38 per cent. Volatility index India VIX increased 1.53 per cent to 71.46 levels. On the sectoral front, barring pharma and FMCG, all the indices ended in the red. Nifty Bank tumbled over 6 per cent to 18,760 levels while Nifty Finacial Services pack tanked around 7.5 per cent to 9,029-mark. 

In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 index slipped 2.8 per cent to 11,435 levels and the Nifty SmallCap 100 index lost 2.3 per cent to 3,485 levels.

  

Global Markets 

Asian shares slid on Monday as fears mounted that the global coronavirus shutdown could last for months although markets regained some lost ground late in the session with Australia posting a standout jump. US and European futures also turned upwards in the Asian afternoon, with E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 up 1.1%, again after earlier losses, EUROSTOXXX 50 futures rallying 2% and FTSE futures 1.5%.

In commodity market, Crude oil fell sharply with US crude briefly dropping below $20 and Brent hitting its lowest level in 18 years, on heightened fears that the global coronavirus shutdown could last months and demand for fuel could evaporate further.

(With inputs from Reuters)

3:59 PM

Sectoral gainers and losers on the NSE

3:58 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE | Top losers and gainers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:41 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 28,440, down 1,375 points or 4.61 per cent while NSE's Nifty50 ended at  8,281, down 379 points or 4.38 per cent.

3:21 PM

MARKET CHECK | Top gainers on the BSE at this hour

3:09 PM

Bank of Baroda cuts personal, retail loan rates by 75 bps to 7.25%

Bank of Baroda, has reduced its Baroda Repo Linked Lending Rate (BRLLR) by 75 basis points with effect from March 28, 2020, it said in a statement.

 

The BRLLR linked to RBI Repo Rate is revised downwards in line with the reduction on Reserve Bank of India Repo Rate from 5.15 per cent to 4.40 per cent, it said. READ MORE

3:05 PM

BROKERAGE VIEW :: Sharekhan on HDFC Life Insurance

HDFC Life is available at reasonable 2.9x FY22E EVPS due to the recent market weakness. We believe that due to the lockdown, business growth and Investment income may see some impact for the industry as well as HLIC and have therefore fine-tuned our estimates and target valuation multiple. Since the regulator has already allowed a 30-day extension to Insurance policies, risks to persistency for now are contained. Given the strong fundamentals of HDFC Life (strong balance sheet, consistent profitability) and high long term growth potential for Indian Insurance industry in general and HDFC Life in particular we see attractive risk reward for investors. While there may be volatility in the near term, it would be an opportunity to accumulate for long-term investor. We maintain our Positive view and expect a potential upside of 25-30% on the stock.

2:54 PM

Covid-19: Global aviation could lose $250 bn; India may take $3.6 bn hit

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airlines could lose a quarter of a trillion dollars in revenue this year as commercial flights come to a grinding halt.

 

Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation estimates that many carriers will go bankrupt by the end of May if they cannot find support and further predicted that about half of all global airlines could go out of business before the end of the year. READ MORE

2:48 PM

MARKET CHECK :: Sensex at day's low, slumps 1,400 pts

2:44 PM

Antique Stock Broking on IT sector

The Government ordered country-wide lockdown for 21 days on 24th March, the impact weighs on Indian IT companies both in the near to long term. Many large and mid-size IT companies were already anticipating the lockdown and triggered business contingency plan (BCP) last month itself and nearly 80-90% of the staff now have work from home (WFM) facilities, as IT companies bought, rented more laptops and installed desktops at employees' homes. Many IT service companies supported the lockdown as safety of employees is a priority; but are requesting Government to make exceptions for a few employees for whom companies are finding it difficult to offer WFH option due to the critical nature of their work

2:43 PM

NEWS ALERT | SEBI relaxes some requirement for compliance by credit rating agencies: CNBC TV18

-- relaxes timelines for rating action, issuing press releaes by CRAs

2:42 PM

COMMENT :: Kotak Securities on RBI measures

Pulling out all the stops. The RBI’s comprehensive policy will likely lower system-wide funding costs, ease near-term financial stress, and provide financial relief to stressed sectors. Given a moderating inflation trajectory, the MPC can further reduce rates by 50 bps in response to the further spread and impact of Covid-19. In case the Covid-19 spread extends well into 1HFY21, the government will have to step in with further sops which may require more OMO purchases or even partial monetization of the deficit.

2:40 PM

Market rout: Financial sector stocks are not attractive yet, say analysts

As most of these stocks now trade closer to their 2008 levels, when the world was hit by the global financial crisis, there seems to be a consensus among brokerages that they have become attractive. But, if investors look deeper, beyond valuations, multiple concerns cloud over these stocks. Analysts say despite the recent dispensation on asset quality provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it may not have fully addressed the pain points yet. READ MORE

2:40 PM

COMMENT :: Morgan Stanley sees deep global recession in 2020

Given the scale of disruption to economic activity, we expect a deep global recession in 1H20, with growth contracting by 2.3%Y in 1H20. Assuming the outbreak peaks by April/May, this will likely set the stage for a recovery in 2H20, to 1.5%Y by 4Q20.

For the US, we expect an unprecedented drop of 30.1%Q SAAR in 2Q20 with the unemployment rate also rising to a record 12.8% (since data collection began in the 1940s) before we see it bouncing back at a 29.2%Q SAAR pace in 3Q20. However, global growth for full-year 2020 will still see a decline of 0.6%Y, past the 0.5%Y rate of contraction we saw during 2008 and, on our estimates, the weakest pace of growth during peacetime since the 1930s

morgan stanley

2:37 PM

STOCK UPDATE:: Sugar stocks trade firm in a weak market

-- Balrampur Chini Mills, Shree Renuka Sugar Mills, Dwarikesh Sugar, Dhampur Sugar Mills and Triveni Engineering & Industries locked in upper circuit on the BSE

2:35 PM

MARKET CHECK