Equities post biggest intra-day recovery after hitting lower circuit on Friday the 13th

Equity benchmark indices staged the biggest ever intra-day recovery on Friday after hitting a 10 per cent lower circuit for the first time since 2008 global financial crisis.

After a halt for 45 minutes, the market witnessed sharp recovery when market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) stepped in to reassure investors.

The S & P BSE Sensex closed 1,325 points or 4.04 per cent higher at 34,103 levels. Earlier, the index had hit the intra-day low of 29,388. The Nifty 50 wound up 434 points or 4.52 per cent higher at 10,024.

SEBI said the fall in Indian indices has been significantly lower than the stock market in other countries.

"SEBI and stock exchanges have a robust risk management framework in place, which automatically gets triggered in response to movements in the indices (BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty) as well as individual stocks both in cash and derivatives market," it said in a statement.

Over the last few days, said SEBI, the Indian stock market has been moving in tandem with other global markets owing to concerns relating to COVID-19 pandemic, resultant fear of economic slowdown and recent fall in global crude prices.

Around noon, Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian said the current developments in the stock market are related to global factors and do not reflect strong fundamentals of the Indian economy.

Investors said that the substantial market recovery after hitting the lower circuit filter is a healthy signal for Indian equities.

The sentiment was also bolstered as US lawmakers worked on an economic rescue package to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus impact. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hoped to announce a deal later on Friday (local time).

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in the green with Nifty PSU bank gaining by 11.7 per cent, financial service by 6.2 per cent, metal by 6.5 per cent and pharma by 5.3 per cent.

Among stocks, State Bank of India (SBI) surged ahead by 14.9 per cent to Rs 244.25 per share while Tata Steel edged higher by 14.5 per cent at Rs 329.20.

HDFC gained by 10.5 per cent, Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 9.6 per cent, Sun Pharma by 8.7 per cent and Grasim by 8.4 per cent. The other prominent gainers were Hindalco, Cipla, ONGC and Vedanta.

However, UPL, Nestle India, Asian Paints and Britannia closed in the negative range.

Meanwhile, global stock markets cracked with coronavirus panic selling hitting almost every asset class. Gold and oil fell and once-safe sovereign bonds slumped as investors liquidated everything they could to cover losses.

Japan's Nikkei dropped by 6.08 per cent while South Korea's Kospi fell by 3.43 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 1.14 per cent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,353 lower at 21,201, the S & P 500 tanked 9.5 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite ended 9.4 per cent lower at 7,202.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic and US President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States over COVID-19.