Equity markets continue to fall; high volatility ahead

Indian equity benchmarks traded with a volatility to end the session in red. The markets traded with negative sentiment for most part of the trading session on Thursday. Sensex and Nifty ended with losses of over two per cent, on the back of persistent pressure of Coronavirus fears on global markets, which could impact trade activity on a large scale.

The indices fell for the fourth consecutive day, as Sensex fell below 28,300-mark and Nifty breached 8,300-mark. Sensex ended at 28,266.60, down by 602.91 points or 2.09 per cent after trading in a range of 26,714.46 and 29,370.53 and Nifty ended at 8,269.70, down by 199.10 points or 2.35 per cent after trading in a range of 7,832.55 and 8,575.45. The broader indices ended in red; BSE Mid-cap index fell 3.68 per cent while, Small-cap index was down by 4.50 per cent.

The top index gainers were ITC-up by 7.53 per cent, Bharti Airtel-up by 4.46 per cent, Power Grid-up by 2.88 per cent, Infosys-up by 2.57 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank-up by 2.19 per cent while, Bajaj Finance was down by 11.24 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra-down by 9.04 per cent, Maruti Suzuki-down by 9.03 per cent, Axis Bank-down by 8.77 per cent and Tech Mahindra-down by 7.87 per cent were the top losers.