Share Market Today: Sensex, Nifty end the day in red; Experts see no immediate relief

Stock exchanges BSE and NSE ended the day in red. Sensex fell by 3934.72 points or 13.15% closing at 25,981.24 while Nifty was down 1,135.20 points or 12.98% % from the Friday close at 7,610.25

Trading had to be stopped for 45 minutes on the BSE and NSE after the Sensex hit the circuit breaker, falling by over 10% in early morning. Things were no different when the markets resumed trading.

The stock markets have been gripped by the Covid-19 fear and the threat is growing apace.

Coronavirus cases have been rising, taking the total number of people infected to over 400 now. Despite the lockdown in over 75 cities, the situation has aggravated.  

"Panic has gone up domestically because of the lockdown situation," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, Reuters reported.  "There is fear that the situation will not be brought under control soon," Reuters Nair quoting Nair.

Anand Rathi, chairman of Anand rathi Group told Zee Business that merely curtailing the trading period will not arrest this falling trend.

Notably, last Friday, Sensex saw a dramatic recovery of 1627 points while the broader market index Nifty gained over 480 points in the Friday trade.

The top 5 gainers on Sensex today were IPCA Lboratories, Alphageo (India), Asian Hotels West, Maharashtra Seamless and Prestige Estates Projects. Meanwhile top loosers were Mahindra & Mahindra Finance, Axis Bank, Max Financial Services, Bajaj Finserve and Equitas Holdings.

There were no gainers on Nifty at close while top losers were Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserve, IndusInd bank and Bajaj Finance.

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Financial markets around the world also took a beating on Monday as a rising tide of national coronavirus lockdowns threatened the business sentiments. European stocks were down by 4.5% as they reopened and commodity markets also saw more heavy selling as the global death toll from the virus passed 14,000, Reuters reported.