Mumbai: BSE benchmark Sensex has nose-dived more than a 1,200 points, while Nifty cracked 367 points amid global selloff as the coronavirus spread rapidly around the world with the WHO warning the deadly epidemic was now at a "decisive point".
The 30-share Sensex is down 1,224.88 points or 3.08% at 38520.78, and the Nifty is down 367.60 points or 3.16% at 11,265.70. The bloodbath wiped off over Rs 5 lakh crore investor wealth.
All Sensex components were trading in the red, led by losses in Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech and Reliance Industries.
The markets are set for their worst week in four years on growing fears that the coronavirus outbreak could turn into a pandemic and derail global growth.
Investors will likely focus on the release of the December quarter growth data for clues on how Asia's third-largest economy fared in the last three months of 2019.
"Until last week, the market was of the view that coronavirus is going to have only a minimum impact on global economy ... An increase in the number of new cases is changing the view," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said in a note. "There are fears of some slowdown in the economy."
Further, incessant selling by foreign investors is also spooking domestic market participants, traders said.
On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,127.36 crore on Thursday, data available with stock exchanges showed.
Other markets in Asia also spiralled downwards on Friday, tracking a collapse in New York and Europe. Tokyo and Jakarta were hammered more than four percent, while Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul and Bangkok tanked more than three percent each.
The casualties have put equities around the world on course to record their worst week since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago as investors run to the hills on fears the virus will smash the global economy.
And while the panic has already caused a bloodbath on trading floors, there are warnings there could be worse to come.
World oil prices tumbled by more than four per cent as traders fretted about the impact of the virus on crude demand, particularly from key consumer China. Brent oil for April delivery tanked almost 4.2 per cent to $51.20 per barrel, while New York's WTI crude for the same month dived nearly 5.0 per cent to $46.31.
Hopes that the epidemic that started in China would be over in a few months and economic activity would return to normal have been shattered, as new infections reported around the world now surpass those in China.
"The coronavirus now looks like a pandemic. Markets can cope even if there is big risk as long as we can see the end of the tunnel," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "But at the moment, no one can tell how long this will last and how severe it will get."
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the virus could become a pandemic as the outbreak spreads to major developed economies such as Germany and France.
About 10 countries reported their first virus cases in the past 24 hours, including Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa.
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