Equity indices plunged by nearly 7 per cent during the afternoon on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic showed no signs of ebbing and the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near-zero a day earlier to help shore up the world's largest economy.
The Fed's move rather scared global investors more than cheering them as it reflected fear among US policy makers about the severe impact of the virus.
Within India, the number of virus positive cases climbed to 110 with fresh reports coming from Maharashtra and Odisha.
At 2:30 pm, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 2,315 points or 6.79 per cent to 31,789 while the Nifty 50 crashed by 693 points or 6.97 per cent to 9,262.
All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank and realty down by 7.9 per cent each, metal by 7.8 per cent, and IT by 6.8 per cent.
Among stocks, IndusInd Bank was the top loser after dropping by over 17 per cent at Rs 664.10 per share. Axis Bank lost by 10.2 per cent and ICICI Bank by 9.8 per cent while JSW Steel tumbled by 11.6 per cent.
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The other prominent losers were Adani Ports, Vedanta, ITC, Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra.
But Yes Bank surged by 43.64 per cent to Rs 36.70 per share despite reporting a net loss of Rs 18,564 crore for the Q3 FY20 quarter.
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