Deccan Chronicle

Nifty drops below 8000 pts as FPIs keep up selling

- RAVI RANJAN PRASAD

The government banned export of all ventilator­s, surgical/disposable masks and textile raw material used for making masks with immediate effect. "The export of all ventilator­s, surgical/disposable masks only, and textile raw material for masks and coveralls only...has been prohibited, with immediate effect," the Directorat­e General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notificati­on. However, items like gloves can be exported.

Industry body CII, which has over 9,300 members, has asked its member companies not to lay off their employees, its president Vikram Kirloskar said. "We are requesting our members to hold on to their staff and not do layoffs as far as possible and take care of small service providers as far as possible," he said. Kirloskar said the industry has sought a moratorium on all loan repayments and cut in interest rates.

Droom, an online automobile marketplac­e, has launched the Corona Shield service to combat the coronaviru­s contagion and make vehicles virus-proof. The firm will offer its Antimicrob­ial Surface Protection­s shield for cars and two-wheelers, which were proven to be effective against SARS and other droplet-based viruses for up to four months. This treatment starts at Rs 499 for 2-wheelers and Rs 999 for passenger cars.

After sinking close to 8 per cent intra-day, benchmark Nifty-50 Index dropped below the 8000mark on Thursday, as coronaviru­s cases kept on rising in the country, forcing more lockdowns and travel restrictio­ns.

The rupee fell to a new all time low of 75.30 per US dollar, leading to highvolume selling by foreign investors; as per provisiona­l data foreign portfolio investors sold equities worth Rs 4,622 crore on Thursday.

The Nifty-50 dropped sharply in the early morning trade by 8.12 per cent, or 636.25 points, to 7832 on negative global cues with a spike in coronaviru­s cases and casualties across the globe. The index closed at 8263.45, down by 205.35 points, or

2.42 per cent. The Sensex too fell below the 27000mark to an intra-day low of 26,714, dropping 7.46 per cent, but recovered sharply to close above 28K at 28288.23, shedding

581.28 points, or 2.01 per cent.

Investors lost another Rs

3.76 lakh crore as the BSE's market capitalisa­tion fell to Rs 1,09,76,781.00 crore against Rs

1,13,53,329.30 crore on Wednesday.

The volatility index India VIX shot up to a new high of 73.34 and closed

12.89 per cent up at 72.19. With rising cases of coronaviru­s, volatility is likely to continue in coming days and any bounce

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