Sensex off lows, down 500 pts; Bajaj Finance dips 8%

Indian equity markets clawed their way up from the opening lows on Monday, on report that there were no plans to extend the country-wide lockdown, but were still trading with cuts. 
 

Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex slumped 510 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 29,300 levels, and the Nifty50 index hovered around 8,480 levels, down 170 points, or 1.9 per cent. HDFC twins (both down over 3 per cent) and Reliance Industries (down 2%) were the top drags on the indices. Besides, Bajaj Finance also slipped over 8 per cent while IndusInd Bank pared some of the losses after plunging 10 per cent in the opening deals.

In the broader market, both the S&P BSE MidCap index as well as the S&P BSE SmallCap index were down over 2 per cent each.

GLOBAL MARKETS
 

Asian shares slid on Monday as fears mounted that the global shutdown for the coronavirus could last for months, doing untold harm to economies. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 skidded 1.2 per cent right from the bell, and Japan’s Nikkei 3.2 per cent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2 per cent, while South Korea shed 2.7 per cent.

Crude oil benchmarks dropped on Monday, extending last week’s losses as the global coronavirus pandemic worsened and the Saudi Arabia-Russia price war showed no signs of abating. Brent futures fell 5.6 per cent to $23.53 a barrel.

(with inputs from Reuters)