Coronavirus scare: Market crash is a buying opportunity, says history

The latest selloff in the market on account of the coronavirus scare could be a good buying opportunity if history is an indication. On six of nine occasions when the market has corrected more than 10 per cent, it has recouped all its losses within two months, shows an analysis by ICICI Direct, the retail broking arm of ICICI Securities. Since 2011, the market has seen a 10 per cent-plus fall because of headwinds, such as the European debt crisis, end of the US bond-buying programme, and a surprise currency devaluation by China. Some of the recent triggers for the correction have been the US-China trade war and fears of a global recession. Currently, the benchmark Nifty is off 8.5 per cent from its peak of 12,352, which was touched on January 17. The ongoing correction may not be over yet and market players say this could be a good time for investors to start buying for the long-term.

“Historically, global events because of which the markets had a meltdown have proved to become lucrative investment opportunities. Therefore, while investing in such times, it is better to make staggered investments for benefitting out of market volatility or investing in products like balanced advantage,” says S Naren, executive director and chief investment officer, ICICI Prudential AMC.