Market Wrap, March 4: Sensex slips 214 pts, Nifty ends at 11,251

Equity market once again came under heavy selling pressure on Wednesday after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the number of confirmed cases in India have risen to 28.
 

Reacting to this, benchmark indices tumbled around 2 per cent during the day; however, they witnessed sharp recovery towards the end of the session, but still ended in the negative territory. The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 38,409, down 214 points or 0.55 per cent. Of 30 stocks, 13 advanced while 17 declined. 

NSE's Nifty50 ended above 11,200 level at 11,251, down 52 points or 0.46 per cent. 28 out of 50 stocks ended in the red and rest 22 in the green. 

Fear guage India VIX closed at 24.23, down over 1 per cent. 

Market breadth remained in favour of sellers as out of 2,534 companies traded on the BSE, 1,706 declined and 696 gained while 132 remained unchanged.  

Broader market took deeper cuts. The S&P BSE MidCap index cracked 338 points or over 2 per cent to 14,425 while S&P BSE SmallCap ended at 13,427, down 346.5 points or 2.5 per cent.

Sectorally, pharma stocks gained the most, followed by IT counters. However, bank, metals and media stocks slid. 

In the primary market, IPO of SBI Cards was subscribed 13.26 times till 3:45 pm. Today is the third of the offer. Another offer by Antony Waste Handling Cell was subscribed 7 per cent. The company, which is among India's top five municipal solid waste management players, plans to raise Rs 206 crore through the offer.

Shares of aviation companies were under pressure on Wednesday, falling upto 8 per cent on the BSE, on concerns that the industry may face risks from the coronavirus outbreak.

Global Markets 

Asian shares struggled to find their footing on Wednesday and bonds held stunning gains, as an emergency rate cut from the US Federal Reserve seemed to stoke rather than soothe fears over the coronavirus’ widening global economic fallout. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent, though most of the gains were confined to South Korea where the government announced a big stimulus package.

Japan’s Nikkei closed flat, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7 per cent. Stocks in Hong Kong and China traded either side of flat.

In commodities, oil prices firmed on expectations of production cuts, with Brent rising 90 cents to $52.79 per barrel and US crude up 1.9 per cent at $48.06 a barrel. Gold rose 0.2 per cent to $1642.21 an ounce.



Read by: Sukanya Roy