Indian shares erased early gains to sink lower on Wednesday, with heavy losses in financial stocks, amid fears of the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The BSE Sensex shed 1,709 points to close at a three-year low of 28,869, and the Nifty tumbled 498 points to close at 8,469.

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In intra-day deals, Sensex fell below 29,000 for the first time since March 2017, while the Nfty50 also breached 8,500-mark for the first time since January 2017.

The blow from the virus outbreak comes amid a general slowdown in consumption that has hit demand for everything from cars to clothes to chocolates. According to market expert Shankar Sharma, India’s GDP growth will slow down further, in sync with its counterparts in China and elsewhere. Beijing, as it recovers from a debilitating coronavirus attack, reported a 13.5 percent fall in industrial output for January-February.

Globally as well, Asian shares fell in choppy trade, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipping 0.1 percent, even after a bounce on Wall Street following Monday’s historic selloff. Gains across markets were capped by fears over the spread of the coronavirus, which has disrupted global business and rattled financial markets.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration pressed on Tuesday for the enactment of a $1 trillion stimulus package as deaths from the virus outbreak in the United States crossed 100.

On the Nifty50 index, Zee, YES Bank, ITC, Tata Steel, and TCS were the top gainers, whereas IndusInd Bank, Bharti Infratel, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Bajaj Finserv led the losses.

Midcap and small-cap shares too buckled under the selling fury that swept the market. The Midcap index fell to its 4-year low, down 5.2 percent, smallcap index also slipped 5.5 percent in today's trade.

Nifty Media was the only sectoral index in the green for the day, however, the Nifty PSU Bank index also trimmed losses to turn flat in the last hour of trade. Meanwhile, Nifty Bank shed 5.9 percent, Nifty Auto slumped 4.4 percent, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT lost over 2.5 percent each. Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma also declined over 3.3 percent for the day.

IndusInd Bank witnessed its biggest intra-day decline, down 24.5 percent even after the bank informed the stock exchanges that it was well-capitalized and profitable. In its filing, IndusInd Bank rubbished market speculations and said that figures about individual exposures doing the rounds were “bloated and outlandish.”

Yes Bank pared gains but ended in the green, up 4 percent ahead of the lifting of the withdrawal cap on depositors at 6 pm today.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea took a sharp knock, down 33 percent after the Supreme Court (SC) said that no self-assessment can be done by telcos. It added that no further objections to be allowed against payable dues by telcos.

First Published:Mar 18, 2020 3:42 PM IST