Sensex tanks 2,700 points, Nifty below 9,200 due to virus fears

Coronavirus fears continued to cause mayhem in the stock markets as the BSE Sensex ended over 2,700 points lower and the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) settled below the 9,200 mark. This is the second biggest single-day fall in the history of Sensex.

The rout in the domestic market was in line with the decline in Asian and European markets. The Sensex closed at 31,390.07, lower by 2,713.41 points or 7.96 per cent from the previous close of 34,103.48. It hat opened at the day’s high of 33,103.24 and touched an intra-day low of 31,276.30 points.

The NSE Nifty50 closed lower by 757.80 points or 7.61 per cent from its previous close of 9,197.40. A bear run was witnessed across sector on Monday with banking and financial and metal stocks witnessing heavy selling.

As all the stocks on the Sensex ended in the red, IndusInd Bank lost the most (17.5 per cent down), followed by Tata Steel (11.02 per cent), HDFC (10.94 per cent), Axis Bank (10.38 per cent) and ICICI Bank (9.96 per cent).

As the Yes Bank probe gathers momentum, the Enforcement Directorate has now decided to summon all the large borrowers who were given loans by the Rana Kapoor-led management.

An ED official said that the agency was looking into all the big borrowers of the bank and the stressed loans sanctioned during the tenure of Rana Kapoor.

Among the largest borrowers are Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani who has been summoned by the agency on March 16. Information, including loan details, terms and conditions and side agreements have been sought from Ambani.

On the list to be summoned are entities like Essel Group, Vodafone Idea, IL&FS, Dewan Housing, Jet Airways, Cox & Kings, CG Power among others.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had stated earlier this month: “The exposure of Yes Bank to some of the very stressed corporates has been before 2014. These are public domain names and I am not violating any customer privacy Anil Ambani (Group), Essel Group, DHFL, IL&FS (and) Vodafone are some of the very stressed corporates to whom Yes Bank has been exposed.” Reliance Group said last week that it had no direct or indirect exposure to the Kapoor family. “The entire exposure to Yes Bank is fully secured and is transacted in the ordinary course of business, and we are committed to honour our repayments to Yes Bank,” said the company.

Sources close to developments revealed that many top businessmen and industrialists who had exposure to Yes Bank will be called for questioning namely bosses of Essel Group, Vodafone Idea, DHFL Group, Omkar Realtors, IL & FS Radius Developers, Jet Airways, Cox & Kings, CG Power, McLeod Russel. It is believed that GMR and GVK Group also may have exposure to the bank.

The ED official further added that most of the big borrowers have defaulted and the loans have turned into bad debts. “The management and promoters will be examined and questioned in the coming weeks,” said the official.

Yes Bank stocks bucked the bearish trend and surged on Monday and closed 45.21 per cent at Rs 37.10 per share as the bank’s reconstruction scheme has come into effect.

The bank has also said that it will resume its full-fledged operations on Wednesday.

Further, shares of SBI Cards and Payments Services made a weak debut on the stock exchanges on Monday as it opened at Rs 658, nearly 13 per cent lower than its issue price of Rs 755.It ended at Rs 683.20, lower by Rs 71.80 or 9.51 per cent from its issue price.

Shares of SBI Cards and Payments Services made a weak debut on the stock exchanges on Monday as it opened at Rs 658, nearly 13 per cent lower than its issue price of Rs 755.

However, by afternoon, its shares pared some losses and is currently 7 per cent lower than the issue price on the BSE.

At 2.42 p.m., SBI Cards shares were trading at Rs 696.60, lower by Rs 58.10 or 7.70 per cent from its issue price. It was Rs 38.90 or 5.91 per cent higher than its opening price of Rs 658.

The listing of the credit card service provider at a discount was largely anticipated by the market on the overall gloomy investor sentiments and bear run in the stock markets in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The BSE Sensex erased all its gains made its previous trade session, and on Monday after it plunged over 2,500 points.

At 2.42 p.m., Sensex was trading at 31,683.57, lower by 2,419.91 points or 7.10 per cent from the previous close of 34,103.48. The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was at 9,284.95, lower by Rs 710.80 or 7.14 per cent from its previous close.

Indo-Asian News Service