INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The stock market extended losses to the fourth day on Wednesday as foreign investors stepped up sale of Indian shares amid growing aversion
to riskier assets in the wake of rapid global spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The Sensex closed below 40,000 for the first time since October,
Sensex ended at 39,888.96, down 392 points, while the Nifty ended down 119.40 points at 11,678.50
The indices have fallen 3.5 per cent in past four trading sessions.
FPIs offloaded shares worth Rs 3,337 crore on Wednesday, taking their
total sales to over Rs 6,900 crore in past three days
Had domestic institutions not bought shares worth Rs 2,786 crore, the losses would have been sharper.
The Volatility Index (VIX) surged 8
per cent to 18.3, highlighting increasing nervousness.
The Nifty and Sensex have now entered a bearish trend on technical charts
Both indices are below their respective 200-day simple moving average, which is considered a major support level.
Piyush Garg, CIO at ICICI
Securities, said the Nifty is expected to bounce back from the 11,600-11,700 levels if global markets stabilise
global pandemic escalated after Covid-19 infections were reported from several countries in Europe and the Middle East
Austria, Croatia and Switzerland have reported cases following the recent outbreak in Italy, according to news reports
In Iran, 140 people have been infected, while the total number of cases in South Korea has climbed to more than 1,200
The virus, which erupted in China, has claimed over 2,000 lives there.
Jefferies said reports of infections from South Korea, Italy and Iran
point to the risk of a global pandemic that, if not handled correctly, could swamp hospitals
The brokerage believes that given the flow of Chinese, Korean and Iranian nationals into North America, a large US community-based outbreak
fall is mainly because of the Covid-19 outbreak
