Indian Indices Recover; Sensex Ends 190 Points Lower

After declining over 2% in early trade today, Indian share markets witnessed sharp recovery in the last hour of trading, but still ended on a negative note.

Benchmark indices edged lower today, tracking weak global cues as fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections spooked investors.

After weeks of no new cases, Wuhan reported six new infections in two days and South Korea announced its biggest spike in new cases in more than a month.

Apart from weak global cues, the indication by the government that the lockdown could be extended beyond May 17 also weighed on the sentiment.

The government had yesterday indicated that the nationwide lockdown could be extended, albeit with eased restrictions for businesses.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the nation at 8 PM today.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 190 points and the NSE Nifty closed down by 43 points.

SGX Nifty reversed all its losses and was trading at 9,218, up by 4 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended their day down by 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the energy sector and banking sector witnessing selling pressure, while telecom stocks and power stocks witnessed buying interest.

Asian stock markets finished on a negative note. The Hang Seng was down 1.5%, while the Nikkei was down 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite stood lower by 0.2%.

Gold prices are currently trading up by 0.2% at Rs 45,865.

The rupee was trading at 75.46 against the US$.

Note that the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide. For the BSE Sensex, FY20 was the second worst year post FY08, the year of the global financial crisis.

Good Time to Start Investing Now?

Naturally, there is an atmosphere of fear all round.

Is it time to sell stocks now? Will the correction get worse?

History has shown that after years like the one we had just now, the next 3 years are good for the markets. In fact, these corrections are the rare times when you find businesses with solid fundamentals at reasonable valuations.