Equity indices slip on coronavirus concerns, metal and auto stocks drag

Equity benchmark indices traded lower during early hours on Monday amid concerns over the impact of coronavirus on global economy.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 246 points to 40,896 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 69 points at 12,029. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone with Nifty metal down by 2.1 per cent and auto by 0.94 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Steel dipped by 3.9 per cent at Rs 452.30 per share while Vedanta was down by 1.9 per cent at Rs 141.85 apiece.

Auto stocks too slipped substantially with Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.1 per cent, Tata Motors by 1.9 per cent and Eicher Motors by 1.3 per cent. The other prominent losers were ONGC, Coal India, Britannia, Zee Entertainment and Grasim.

However, UPL, Cipla, Bharti Infratel, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets traded lower amid ongoing virus outbreak impact on Chinese manufacturers. Reports said factories in China were set to return to work, but many are expected to remain shut for longer.

The Shanghai Composite down by 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped by 0.5 per cent, the Nikkei 225 declined by 0.21 per cent and South Korea's Kospi also fell by 0.8 per cent.

More than 900 people have so far died in China's central Hubei province with most of new deaths in the provincial capital of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.