Indian markets ended lower on Monday, dragged by metal stocks, as the rising death toll in China raised alarm bells about the severity of the coronavirus outbreak and its economic impact.

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The BSE Sensex ended 162 points lower at 40,980, while the Nifty50 index settled 67 points lower at 12,031. Meanwhile, broader markets underperformed benchmarks with the Nifty Midcap index down 0.9 percent and Nifty Smallcap indices falling 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.7 percent as the death toll touched 908 in China’s central Hubei province as of Sunday, surpassing the SARS epidemic.

The Nifty Metal index, was the worst-performing sector for the day, down over 3 percent after data from China’s metal association showed the country’s nonferrous metal output will fall at least 10 percent year-on-year in February, before recovering in the second quarter, due to the virus outbreak. Tata Steel, SAIL, NALCO, Coal India, Hindalco, and Vedanta fell over 2.5 percent each.

Other sectors also ended the day in the red. Nifty Auto also declined 2.5 percent, and Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty shed 1 percent each. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Bank lost 0.9 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

UPL, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Kotak Bank, and Reliance Industries were the top gainers on the Nifty50 index, while Zee, M&M, Tata Steel, Grasim, and Bharti Infratel led the losses.

Mahindra and Mahindra declined over 7 percent after the company reported a 73 percent fall in net profit at Rs 380 crore in Q3 versus a net profit of Rs 1,396 crore in the year-ago quarter.

UPL rose 5 percent on robust December-quarter results and bullish brokerage views. The agrochemical maker reported a 77.54 percent year-on-year (YoY) rise in its net profit at Rs 838 crore in Q3 versus a net profit of Rs 472 crore in the same period last year.

First Published:Feb 10, 2020 3:30 PM IST