Sensex crashes by over 1,100 points as virus fears threaten global growth

Equity indices crumbled during early hours on Friday as global share prices headed for the worst week since the world financial crisis in 2008 and investors readied for the coronavirus to become a pandemic.

At 10 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 1,140 points or 2.87 per cent to 38,605 while the Nifty 50 dipped by 353 points or 3.03 per cent at 11,280.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty metal down by 4.6 per cent, realty by 3.89 per cent, IT by 3.36 per cent and pharma by 2.32 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Motors skidded by 7.44 per cent at Rs 134.45 per share. Metal major too suffered with Hindalco dipping by 5.6 per cent, Tata Steel by 5.5 per cent, Vedanta by 5.4 per cent and JSW Steel by 4.8 per cent.

Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Wipro were down by over 3.7 per cent each.

Meanwhile, global share markets headed for the worst week since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis as investors moved away from risky assets on fears the coronavirus will become a pandemic and derail economic growth.

Asian stocks in China, Japan and South Korea posted heavy losses after an overnight plunge in Wall Street's benchmarks.

MSCI's regional index excluding Japan shed 1.4 per cent while Japan's Nikkei gave up 3.3 per cent on rising fears that the Olympics planned in July and August may be called off due to the coronavirus.

South Korean shares dropped by 2.1 per cent as new infections reported around the world now surpass those in China.

Meanwhile, US markets saw the biggest sell-off in over a decade on Thursday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging by 1,191 points to close at 25,767. The S & P 500 slid by 4.4 per cent the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 4.6 per cent.

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