Equities in a sea of red after hitting lower circuit, banking and auto scrips worst-hit

Equities plunged even lower on Monday afternoon following a 45-minute halt caused after the S & P BSE Sensex hit 10 per cent lower circuit level.

Although the markets saw an across-the-board selling, banking and auto stocks were the worst-hit. The Indian rupee too dragged further to hit a fresh record low of 76.02 versus Friday's close of 75.19.

At 1 pm, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 3,339 points or 11.16 per cent to 26,577 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 917 points or 10.48 per cent to 7,829.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were deep in the red with Nifty private bank down by 14.2 per cent, financial service by 12.3 per cent, auto by 11.9 per cent and metal by 10.8 per cent.

Among stocks, private sector lender IndusInd bank lost by 21.8 per cent to Rs 344 per share while Axis Bank slipped by 19.9 per cent and ICICI Bank by 15.1 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance dropped by 22.2 per cent and 17.6 per cent respectively. Metal major JSW Steel cracked by 18.8 per cent, Hindalco by 14.8 per cent, Grasim by 20 per cent, Adani Ports by 17 per cent and Larsen & Toubro by 15 per cent.

The coronavirus epidemic continued to cause widespread lockdowns and quarantines, edging economies globally in dire straits and evoking fears of a prolonged recession.

Meanwhile, Asian shares sank on Monday as a rising tide of national lockdowns threatened to overwhelm policymakers' efforts avert a possible deep global recession.

Reports said the global death toll due to coronavirus exceeded over 14,000 with more than 300,000 infections.