Extending their losses for the fourth day in a row, benchmark indices ended Wednesday's highly volatile session in the negative territory as the rapid spread of coronavirus from its epicentre in China to other countries dented investors' risk appetite. So far, the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in China has crossed over 2,700, while the number of confirmed cases in mainland China hit 78,064, including 406 new cases. CLICK TO READ MORE
The S&P BSE Sensex ended below the crucial psychological level of 40,000 at 39,889, down 392 points or around a per cent. Reliance Industries (RIL), Infosys, ICICI Bank, and HDFC contributed the most to the index's decline. Drug major Sun Pharma ended as the biggest loser on the index - down over 3.5 per cent while SBI ended as the biggest gainer on the index with half a per cent gain.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 index closed the session at 11,678.5, down 119 points or 1 per cent with 44 out of 50 stocks ending in the red and just 6 in the green.
In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index skid over a per cent to settle at 17,512 while the Nifty SmallCap 100 index ended at 5,992, down 34 points or 0.57 per cent.
India VIX, the "fear guage", climbed over 8 per cent to 18.29 levels.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty Auto index slipped the most - over 2 per cent to 7,208 levels. Nifty Metal index dropped 1.63 per cent to 2,430 while the Nifty Realty index ended at 297.50, down around 1.7 per cent.
Individual Stocks Shares of commodities and specialty chemicals companies were on a roll on Wednesday with Navin Fluorine International (NFIL), Fairchem Speciality and Neogen Chemicals rallying more than 10 per cent on the BSE in an otherwise weak market on expectation of strong earnings growth going forward.
Shares of India Cements surged 18.5 per cent to Rs 103.35 on Wednesday, thus rallying over 37 per cent in the past two trading days after Gopikishan Damani bought 2.75 per cent stake in the company for a total amount of Rs 70.5 crore via open market.
On Tuesday, Gopikishan S Damani had purchased 8.52 million shares in India Cements at an average price of Rs 82.70 apiece, NSE bulk deal data showed.
Shares of Sanofi India hit a record high of Rs 7,638, surging 9 per cent, on the BSE on Wednesday after the pharmaceutical company announced a total dividend of Rs 349 per share.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares fell on Wednesday as a US warning to Americans to prepare for the possibility of a coronavirus pandemic jolted Wall Street yet again and pushed yields on safe-haven Treasuries to record lows. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.1 per cent. Japan was among the worst-performing market in the region, weighed by growing concerns the virus could force the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics.
Euro Stoxx 50 futures were down 0.36 per cent, German DAX futures fell 0.53 per cent, while FTSE futures were off 0.4 per cent.
Crude prices edged up on Wednesday as investors covered short positions after three sessions of losses, even as fears deepened that the rapid spread of the coronavirus will lead to a global pandemic.
Read by: Sukanya Roy
 "Market Wrap, Feb 26: Sensex ends 392 pts lower, Nifty at 11,678")
