Equity indices plunge on weak global cues, Yes Bank cracks by 30 pc

Equity benchmark indices tumbled during early hours on Friday after another overnight steep fall on Wall Street with banking stocks seen coming under pressure after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed Yes Bank under a moratorium and took over its board.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 1,036 points or 2.69 per cent to 37,435 while the Nifty 50 dived by 306 points or 2.72 per cent at 10,963.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty PSU bank down by 5 per cent, private bank by 4.5 per cent, metal by 4.2 per cent and realty by 3.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank crashed by 29.89 per cent to Rs 25.80 per share after the RBI said it is superseding the board of troubled private sector lender with immediate effect.

Former State Bank of India Chief Financial Officer Prashant Kumar has been appointed the administrator. Yes Bank has been grappling with mounting bad loans and has been struggling to raise fresh capital.IndusInd Bank too dropped by 10.9 per cent at Rs 10.91 per share. Public sector State Bank of India dipped by 5.9 per cent after clarifying that no negotiations related to an investment in Yes Bank had taken place.

The other prominent losers were metal majors Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco besides Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance and Bharti Infratel.

Meanwhile, Asian shares and US stock futures fell after another Wall Street rout as disruptions to global business from coronavirus beyond China worsened.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 1.3 per cent while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid by 2.29 per cent.

The spread of a new coronavirus accelerated in Europe, Britain and North America, prompting investors to re-assess the risks amid volatility in financial markets.

.