Sensex plunges over 750 points, Nifty slips below 9,800 over rising Covid-19 cases

Domestic benchmark indices on Monday were trading over 2% lower, dragged down by financials as they tracked global markets amid a rise in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases and worries over a second wave of infections in China.

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading over 750 points or 2.23% lower at 33,026.20 levels and the Nifty50 index was at 9,761.00 down 211.90 or 2.12% at 11:57am.

IndusInd Bank, down 6.11%, and Axis Bank lower at 5.03% were the top Sensex laggards and Mahindra&Mahindra was the only stock in the green among the 30 shares.

Among the Nifty sectoral indices, Nifty Bank index was down 3.82% and Nifty Private Bank was 3.93% lower.

Reliance Industries’ (RIL) partly-paid shares issued under rights issue made a strong stock market debut on Monday, surging 10% to Rs 710.65 on NSE, in the early morning trade. The oil-to-telecoms conglomerate’s rights issue, the country’s biggest, is set to debut on Monday.

Fears of a second wave of infections and a fall in oil prices kept Asian shares in negative territory.

“The rising cases of coronavirus is causing investors across the globe to tread cautiously. There is lower risk appetite and there is some hesitation,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services in Kochi told Reuters.