Sensex, Nifty off the day's low

Key benchmark indices sharply came off the day's low in mid-morning trade as buying emerged at lower levels. Sentiment remained weak amid sell-off in equities across global markets. The Nifty regained 8200 and hovered around 8300 mark.

At 11:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 838.33 points or 2.9% at 28,031.18. The Nifty 50 index was down 232.8 points or 2.75% at 8,236.

The broader market traded with sizeable losses. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 3.84% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 5.06%.

The market breadth favored the bears. On the BSE, 355 shares rose and 1710 shares fell. A total of 115 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 5 stocks advanced while 45 stocks declined.

Coronavirus Crisis:

Coronavirus has infected more than 2,00,000 people and killed more than 8000 across the world. Total cases in India have risen to 169. Three persons have lost their lives in India due to the virus. As per the latest update, two women tested positive for coronavirus in Mumbai metropolitan region on Thursday, taking the number of such cases in Maharashtra to 47.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on 19 March 2020 at 8 PM, during which he will talk about issues relating to COVID-19 and the efforts to combat it.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index tumbled 6.03% to 5,183.95, extending its losing streak to fourth consecutive trading session. The index has now slumped 16.14% in last four trading days.

Ashok Leyland (down 15.92%), Bharat Forge (down 11.35%), Maruti Suzuki (down 10.17%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 9.93%), Amara raja Batteries (down 7.78%), Bosch (down 3.33%), Tata Motors (down 2.91%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.83%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.55%), Eicher Motor (down 1.5%), Apollo Tyre (down 1.5%) and MRF (down 0.37%) were top losers in Nifty Auto index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

JSW Steel were down 4.03% at Rs 157.25. JSW Steel informed that CARE Ratings had revised the company's long term (bank facilities, non-convertible debenture) rating to 'CARE AA- (Stable)' from 'CARE AA (Negative)'. CARE Ratings said that the revision in ratings assigned mainly takes into account slower than expected recovery in the steel prices, leading to contraction in the operating margins as reflected from the subdued financial performance of the company during 9MFY20.

Alphageo (India) rose 1.56% to Rs 140 after the company said it received notification of award (NOA) of a contract worth Rs 76.67 crore from Oil India.

Shares of Dilip Buildcon were down 5.32% at Rs 247.20. Dilip Buildcon in a regulatory filing informed that it has received letter of acceptance from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for a four lane with paved shoulder of Pathrapali-Kathghora in the State of Chhattisgarh under Hybrid Annuity Mode.

Global Markets:

Asian markets were trading lower on Thursday amid concerns various policy moves by governments and central banks will not be enough to stop the coronavirus pandemic causing a severe recession.

The European Central Bank (ECB) said it is launching a new, expanded program to buy financial assets in a bid to calm markets as monetary authorities struggle to counter the devastation the virus outbreak is wreaking on the global economy. The ECB will buy 750 billion euro ($820 billion) in bonds through 2020, with Greek debt and non-financial commercial paper eligible under the programme for the first time.

In US, stocks finished sharply lower on Wednesday, but off session lows after Congress passed the first of two planned bills providing some relief from the economic damage the coronavirus pandemic is inflicting on businesses and consumers.

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