Equity indices recover after trading halts for 45 minutes

Investors remained nervous during early hours on Friday as equity indices crashed by 10 per cent but recovered quickly after the trading was halted for 45 minutes as the Nifty hit a lower circuit.

At 11:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was still down by 84 points or 0.26 per cent to 32,693 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 66 points at 9,524.

The trading was halted for the 45 minutes as the Nifty hit a 10 per cent lower circuit.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) stepped in quickly and said the fall in Indian indices has been significantly lower than the stock market in other countries.

 

"SEBI and stock exchanges have a robust risk management framework in place which automatically gets triggered in response to movements in the indices (BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty) as well as individual stocks both in cash and derivatives market," it said in a statement.

Over the last few days, said SEBI, the Indian stock market has been moving in tandem with other global markets owing to concerns relating to COVID-19 pandemic, resultant fear of economic slowdown and recent fall in global crude prices.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red.

In money markets, the Indian rupee recovered 50 paise after hitting a record low of Rs 74.50 in early trade on worries over the coronavirus pandemic. At 11:15 am, it was trading at 74.03.

Meanwhile, global stock markets crashed with coronavirus panic selling hitting almost every asset class. Gold and oil fell and once-safe sovereign bonds slumped as investors liquidated everything they could to cover losses.

Japan's Nikkei dropped as far as 10 per cent and headed for its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.

In South Korea, the Kospi fell by 7.7 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 5 per cent and China's Shanghai composite slumped by 3 per cent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,353 lower at 21,201, the S & P 500 tanked 9.5 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite ended 9.4 per cent lower at 7,202.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic and US President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States over COVID-19.

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