Sensex crashes over 1,800 points in early trade as coronavirus cases rise in India

Amid rising cases of coronavirus in India, Sensex dropped as much as 2,155.05 points to touch 26,714.46 in early trade on Thursday. The Nifty 50 index also crashed as much as 636.25 points to 7,832.55.

Indian equity markets crashed again on Thursday as both benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty plunged into deeper negative territory.

At around 9:30 am, BSE Sensex was down by 1,785.28 or over 6 per cent at 27,084.23 while Nifty was down almost 600 points or 6.90 per cent at 7,884.65, which is the lowest since December 27, 2016. By 10 am, Sensex was down by almost 1,900 points at 26,977.

All shares on the Sensex pact apart from NTPC and Powergrid were trading in red due to heavy selloff in the stock market. As far as Nifty is concerned, all sectoral indexes are trading in the red.

The fresh fall on Thursday is another alarming day on Dalal Street, reflecting the wider sentiments of global markets, which have suffered deep wounds while tackling the novel coronavirus outbreak.

While governments around the world have tried to boost sentiments, it has hardly helped in boosting investor sentiments as there is too much panic around how much damage the virus can cause and whether it triggers a global recession.

Meanwhile, the spread of coronavirus seems to be intensified in several countries outside China. Italy on Wednesday reported 475 deaths while cases in the US rose by over 1,000. In India, the pandemic has claimed three lives while 170 have been infected.

At present, market analysts are uncertain when the market would bottom out and have told investors to stay calm and avoid panicking as it could lead to further losses.

Some analysts now say that the next 15 days would be crucial for stock markets around the world including India.