All types of lows & only one colour-RED

Indian equity markets, in major sell-off, registered historical low levels across the board on Thursday. The benchmark indices-Sensex and Nifty lost nearly nine per cent intra-day.

Sensex closed 8.18 per cent lower at 32,778 which is lowest closing level since March 2018. Out 30 stocks, 16 stocks touched 52-week low in the historical fall, triggered by the fall in global financial markets. Nifty index dropped by nearly 8.3 per cent and closed at 9,590 which is the lowest level since April 2018. The provisional estimate suggests that the equity indices have lost nearly Rs 11 lakh crore market today. The fall was widespread across the board and sectors.

Nifty PE, a valuation gauge to identify stocks opportunity in Nifty index, fell down to 21.66, well below its January high of 28.41.

The severity of the fall was such that all sectoral indices touched 52-week low and closed down by nine per cent or more. NIFTY IT, NIFTY realty, NIFTY METAL, NIFTY Bank closed by nine per cent, 8.8 per cent, 8.7 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.

On stocks specific front, heavyweights such as ITC, SBI, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, HDFC Ltd, RIL, all fell in the range of seven to 12 per cent intra-day. Asian Paints and HUL were the top performers with a fall limited to just three per cent and four per cent each.

The global financial markets have taken the bearish tone in fear of economic slowdown due to Coronavirus. European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 308.08 points or 5.24 per cent to 5,568.44, France’s CAC decreased 248.24 points or 5.38 per cent to 4,362.01 and Germany’s DAX decreased 574.50 points or 5.5 per cent to 9,864.18.