INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian equity benchmarks came off intraday low levels and erased gains in the last hour of trade on the back of buying interest in
metal, banking, auto and pharma shares
The benchmarks staged a gap down opening wherein the Sensex fell as much as 754 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 14,416
Growing calls, including from an industry body, to impose curbs at the national level to rein in the COVID-19 spread dampened investor
industry body on Sunday urged authorities to take the "strongest national steps" and to curtail economic activity to save lives, as the
coronavirus continued to sweep the nation and overwhelm its healthcare systems.Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock
Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Private Bank index's over 1 per cent decline
Nifty Bank, Media, PSU Bank and Realty indexes also fell between 0.5-1 per cent.On the other hand, Nifty Metal, Auto FMCG and Pharma indices
were up between 0.6-2 per cent.Adani Ports was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4 per cent to Rs 759
Tata Steel, SBI Life, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, UPL and Asian Paints also rose between 1.7-3 per cent.On the
flipside, Titan, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank and BPCL were among the losers.(With inputs from
