Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices were in the negative zone during early hours on Wednesday as worries about coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes that broad policy will easily curb the economic impact of the outbreak.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 468 points or 1.53 percent to 30,112 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 112 points or 1.25 percent to 8,855.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank and realty down by 1.5 percent each. Nifty financial service dipped by 2.2 percent, auto by 1.4 percent and FMCG by 0.09 percent.
Among stocks, IndusInd Bank dropped by 5.28 percent to Rs 572.25 per share while Axis Bank traded lower by 5.5 percent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 3.9 percent and ICICI Bank by 3.5 percent.
The other prominent losers were Bajaj Finance, Dr. Reddy’s, Titan, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hero MotoCorp.
But Yes Bank continued its upward swing by 26.7 percent to Rs 74.35 per share as it prepared to resume operations in the evening after the moratorium on private sector lender is lifted.
The other prominent winners were Sun Pharma, Vedanta, and Infosys.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed as stocks on Wall Street bounced back overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei gained by 0.94 percent, Shanghai Composite by 1.26 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng by 0.08 percent and South Korea’s Kospi by 0.16 percent.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed an 850 billion dollar stimulus bill to blunt the economic hit from coronavirus while many other governments look to fiscal stimulus.