Sensex tanks 1,800 points amid rising Covid-19 cases

Besides the rising number of fresh Covid-19 infections, the subdued trend in the Asian markets also weighed on the key Indian stock market indices.

Mumbai: The Indian stock market slumped on Monday with the BSE Sensex falling over 1,700 points amid rising cases of Covid-19 and localised lockdowns.

India reported 1,68,912 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, as per health ministry data. With this, India has once again taken its spot as the second-worst hit nation in terms of infections after the US.

Along with the surging Covid cases, the subdued trend in the Asian markets also weighed on the Indian indices.

Around 02.50 p.m., Sensex was trading at 47,782, lower by 1,808 points or 3.65 per cent from its previous close of 49,591.32.

It opened at 48,956.65 and has so far (by 02.52 pm) recorded an intra-day high of 48,956.65 and a low of 47,716 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 14,304.00, lower by 530.85 points or 3.58 per cent from its previous close.

IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tanking around 8 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, SBI, ONGC, Axis Bank and Titan.

At 2.14 pm, all the 30 stocks in the Sensex, except Dr Reddy's Labs, were in the red.

In the previous session, Sensex had settled 154.89 points or 0.31 per cent lower at 49,591.32, and Nifty slipped 38.95 points or 0.26 per cent to 14,834.85.

"Since the second wave of the pandemic is turning out worse than expected, there is profound uncertainty about its impact on the economy and markets,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services told PTI.

The situation is the worst in economically significant Maharashtra. This can impact the market's assumption of around 11 per cent GDP growth and above 30 per cent earnings growth, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo were in the red in mid-session deals, while Seoul was trading with mild gains.

According to PTI, Investors' wealth tumbled by a whopping Rs 6.86 lakh crore in the morning session.

(With Agency Inputs)