Many manufacturing operations in India were forced to halt to contain the spread of the virus and production has seen a decline, especially among automakers, with the outbreak affecting supply chains.
Domestic stock markets suffered steep losses on Wednesday as the number of coronavirus cases increased in India as the country entered the eighth day of a 21-day lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The S&P BSE Sensex index plunged as much as 1,395.06 points to hit 28,073.43 on the downside during the session, and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark slid to as low as 8,198.35, down 399.4 points from the previous close. A selloff across sectors – led by financial and information technology stocks – dragged the markets.
The benchmarks recovered some of those losses by the end of the session. The Sensex ended 1,203.18 points – or -4.08 per cent – lower at 28,265.31 and the Nifty settled at 8,263.60, down 334.15 points – or 3.89 per cent – from the previous close.
As of Tuesday evening, the country had 1,238 active coronavirus cases and 35 deaths due to the COVID-19 disease.
Many manufacturing operations in India were forced to halt to contain the spread of the virus and production has seen a decline, especially among automakers, with the outbreak affecting supply chains.Credit ratings agency S&P Global on Monday cut its estimate for the country’s economic growth for the full year ending 2021 to 3.5 per cent from 5.2 per cent.
The lockdown is scheduled to end around mid April, just as the corporate earnings season begins. The government said it had no plans to extend the lockdown.
Meanwhile, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.23 per cent, helped by a bounce in Australian shares, but risks for equities remained as the pandemic threatened global growth.
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