Sensex crashes by 1,708 points as virus surge threatens recovery

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices plummeted by 3.5 per cent on Monday as the country recorded a massive surge of 1.69 lakh COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

Investors worried about the economic fallout of fresh restrictions announced by several state governments. Market analysts said a complete lockdown will derail the pace of nascent economic recovery.

Reports of vaccine shortage and the sluggish pace of vaccination added to the worry that the pandemic may cause more damage than expected.

The panic selling on Black Monday reportedly led to investor wealth tumbling by nearly Rs 8 lakh crore on BSE Ltd.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 1,708 points or 3.44 per cent lower at 47,883 while the Nifty 50 tumbled by 524 points or 3.53 per cent to 14,311.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty PSU bank down by 9.2 per cent, private bank by 5.2 per cent, realty by 7.5 per cent, metal by 6 per cent and auto by 5.1 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Motors skidded by 9.6 per cent to Rs 287.50 per share while Mahindra & Mahindra lost by 5.1 per cent to Rs 750.55.

State Bank of India was down by 6.3 per cent to Rs 330.70, IndusInd Bank by 8.5 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 7.2 per cent.

UPL slipped by 6.9 per cent, Hindalco by 6 per cent, ONGC by 5.2 per cent and Titan by 4.9 per cent. However, pharma major Dr Reddy’s gained by 7 per cent to close at Rs 5,098 per share while Cipla gained by 2.7 per cent.