The mayhem continued on Dalal Street today as well as India share markets traded deep in the red with Sensex and Nifty witnessing sharp fall.
Losses were see tracking a sell-off in global markets as a new wave of fear about the spread of the coronavirus and its economic impact gripped investors.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 2,713 points (down 7.9%) and the NSE Nifty stood down by 756 points (down 7.6%).
The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 5.9%, while the BSE Small Cap index stood down by 5.7%.
All sectoral indices ended deep in the red with stocks in the metal sector, banking sector and realty sector witnessing maximum selling pressure.
The rupee was trading at 74.28 against the US$.
Asian stock markets finished on a negative note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 4.03% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 3.40%. The Nikkei 225 was down 2.46%.
European markets were also trading on a negative note. The FTSE 100 was down by 6.68%. The DAX was trading down by 8.02%, while the CAC 40 stood down 9.01%.
In news from macroeconomic space, amid wild speculation that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may follow its global peers and announce an emergency rate cut, the banking regulator has called a press conference at 4 pm today.
As per the news, in a communication to media houses, RBI said Governor Shaktikanta Das would hold a press conference post market hours at 4 pm.
The news has further fueled the buzz over an emergency rate cut.
RBI's regular monetary policy review is scheduled for March 31 to April 3, 2020.
We will be sharing the major takeaways from this press conference in a special commentary today. Stay tuned!
The above move by RBI comes as the Federal Reserve, in a bold, emergency action to support the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, on Sunday announced it would cut its target interest rate near zero. It also launched a massive US$ 700 billion quantitative easing program to shelter the US economy from the effects of the virus.
In addition, in a global coordinated move by centrals banks, the Fed said the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank took action to enhance dollar liquidity around the world through existing dollar swap arrangements.
The banks lowered the rate on these swap line loans and extended the period for such loans.
Bank of Japan announced it would hold a one-day policy meeting later in the day, to replace the scheduled meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia also said it stands ready to purchase Australian government bonds to support the market. It said further policy measure will come out on Thursday.
The People's Bank of China on pumped 100 billion yuan (US$ 14.3 billion) into the financial system by offering one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to banks.
The coronavirus threat has meant sharp losses for global stock markets.
We have written a piece around how deep this impact has been felt in the global financial markets.
The stock of the company got listed at Rs 658, a discount 12.85% over its issue price of Rs 755.
This was the first listing in the current calendar year.
The credit card issuer had fixed final IPO price at Rs 755 per share, the higher end of price band (of Rs 750-755) and the employees received shares at a discount of Rs 75 per share to the final price.
The public issue was subscribed 26.5 times during March 2-4 but was less looked after than market expectations due to weak market conditions after wide-spreading novel coronavirus.
If you recall, the market correction had started a week prior to the opening of the SBI Cards IPO. Just the week before the IPO opened for subscription, the Sensex had tanked 7% in unison with the global stock market sell-off.
Have a look at the chart below. It shows the trend in the total market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies since the start of 2020.
Coronavirus Triggers Massive Wipeout of Investor Wealth
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