Sensex crashes over 1,100 points on global rout, Rs 5 lakh Crore investor wealth wiped off

Market
benchmark Sensex plummeted over 1,100 points, wiping off over Rs 5 lakh crore
investor wealth, in opening session on Friday amid a massive selloff in global
equities as rising coronavirus cases outside China stoked fears of a pandemic
that could dent world growth.

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The 30-share
index sank 1,100.27 points, or 2.77%, to 38,645.39, while the NSE Nifty cracked
329.50 points, or 2.83%, to 11,303.80,

All Sensex
components were trading in the red, led by losses in Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra,
Infosys, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech and Reliance
Industries.

In the
previous session, the Sensex settled 143.30 points, or 0.36%, lower at
39,745.66, and the Nifty fell 45.20 points or 0.39% to end at 11,633.30.

According to
analysts, till last week the market was of the view that coronavirus was going
to have minimum impact on global economy as situation in China was being
contained. But the increase in the number of new cases is changing the view and
investors are worried about an intense slowdown.

Further, constant
selling by foreign investors is also spooking domestic market participants,
traders said.

On a net
basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,127.36 crore on
Thursday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Stock
exchanges in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo plunged up to 4 per cent in
their morning sessions. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
dropped 1,190.95 points, its largest one-day point drop in history, bringing
its loss for the week to 3,225.77 points, or 11.1 per cent.

The S&P
500 has now plunged 12 per cent from the all-time high it set just a week ago.

World oil
prices too tumbled by more than 4 per cent overnight as traders fretted about
the impact of spreading coronavirus on crude demand, particularly from key
consumer China.

Brent crude
oil futures fell another 2.47 per cent to USD 50.45 per barrel early in the
day. The rupee depreciated 28 paise to 71.89 against the US dollar in morning
session.