Indian equities plunge 20 pc in less than 45 days on coronavirus concerns

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Indian equities plunge 20 pc in less than 45 days on coronavirus concerns
New Delhi, Mar 13 () Indian stocks have slumped nearly 20 per cent in less than 45 days as concerns over coronavirus pandemic dampened investor sentiments worldwide, including in major European markets and the US.

Data compiled by Sebi showed that China's Shanghai Composite declined just 1.78 per cent while the decline in other key Asian markets was in the range of 7-15 per cent.

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The figures are based on comparison between closing levels on January 31 and March 12 -- the period during which coronavirus infections became more pronounced across geographies, including India.

Over the last few days, the Indian stock market has been moving in tandem with other global markets owing to concerns relating to coronavirus pandemic, resultant fear of economic slowdown and fall in international crude prices.

However, Sebi said that fall in the Indian indices has been significantly lower than the stock market in other countries.

Indian equity benchmark Sensex plunged by 19.51 per cent and the broader Nifty sank 19.83 per cent, much lower than France's CAC, which plummeted 36.35 per cent, Russia's RTS (36.3 per cent), Brazil's Bovespa (36.2 per cent) and Germany's DAX (29.43 per cent).

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Further, the FTSE 100 index of the UK dived by over 28 per cent, US' Dow Jones declined 25 per cent and Nasdaq over 21 per cent.

Interestingly, drop in Asian markets has been lower than European and the US.

Chinese market has slipped just 1.78 per cent even as epicentre of the outbreak was the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 7.61 per cent, Taiwan's Taiex (9.33 per cent), South Korea's Kospi (13.43 per cent) and Singapore's Strait Times (15.06 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) also said that the regulator and stock exchanges are prepared to "take any action" as required to deal with market volatility, hours after trading was halted for 45 minutes.

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On Friday, the Sensex plummeted over 3,200 points and the Nifty sank 966 points and hit their lower circuit limits, in opening session. Following this, stock exchanges halted trading for 45 minutes.

Later, the broader market recovered from the day's low and the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty were trading 2 per cent higher.

On Thursday, the broader markets fell by more than 8 per cent. SP RVKMKJ
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(This story has not been edited by Business Insider and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed we subscribe to.)