Equity indices plunge by 10 pc, banking and realty stocks hit

Equity benchmark indices dived by 9 per cent during early hours on Monday as governments and businesses adapt to prolonged quarantines during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indian rupee too dragged further to hit a fresh record low of 76.02 versus Friday's close of 75.19.

At 10 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 2,992 points or 10 per cent to 26,924 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 847 points or 9.7 per cent to 7,898.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were deep in the red Nifty private bank down by 11.2 per cent, realty by 10.9 per cent, financial service by 10.1 per cent and auto by 9.8 per cent.

Among stocks, private sector lender Axis Bank lost by nearly 15 per cent to Rs 363.70 per share. IndusInd Bank slipped by 14.4 per cent, ICICI Bank by 13.1 per cent while Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv dropped by 13.7 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively.

The other prominent losers were Adani Ports which ticked down by 15 per cent, UltraTech Cement and Maruti.

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

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan lost by 3.8 per cent while Shanghai blue chips dropped by 2.3 per cent.

But Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.8 per cent aided, likely by expectations of more aggressive asset buying by the Bank of Japan.

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