Equity indices bleed for third consecutive weekly closing day

Indian equity benchmark indices registered a negative closing for the third consecutive week on Friday. Sensex and Nifty closed the week with losses of 1.88 per cent and 1.90 per cent, respectively.

The market sentiment has been very weak, owing to the fears of economic slowdown due to rapidly spreading Coronavirus in China and around the world. Investors are not just worried about the consecutive losses but also for the high level of volatility in the markets. Sharp falls followed by a recovery was quite visible in the market, which trapped investors on both sides of the trade. The volatility index represented by India VIX closed at 25.64, which ended higher by more than 20 per cent over the week.

On broader levels, BSE 200 and BSE 500 ended the session down by 1.78 per cent and 1.85 per cent for the week. BSE 200 was topped by Indiabulls Ventures, which ended the week up by 27 per cent while on the losing side, Yes Bank lost nearly 53 per cent of its value during the week. The shares of Yes Bank faced high level of activity after developments of resolution by SBI and LIC. On the index front, auto major, Tata Motor eroded 12 per cent of the investor wealth within a week’s span, reacting to low sales expectation in China due to a prolonged shutdown. Weak market sentiments made the situation very difficult to find any positive stocks during the week. Despite this, bulls being on the charge stocks such as Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, TCS, Asian Paints managed to close week higher by eight per cent, six per cent, 5.5 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively.

The markets can be expected to continue weak trades unless any clear vaccine or measures emerge to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The anticipation in supply disruption due to a large scale shutdown in China can dampen the sentiment more badly.