Sensex down 200 pts, Nifty above 9,000 mark

Mumbai: Indian equity markets recovered partly from the lows of the day this afternoon. At 12:20 pm, the Sensex had recouped around 400 points from intra-day low of 30,754.15 and was quoting at 30,911, lower by 251 points or 0.7 per cent and the Nifty had reclaimed the 9000 mark and was at 9,050, down 62 points or 0.6 per cent.

Losses in financial, auto and energy stocks continued to add pressure, and negate the gains in pharma space.

Bajaj Finance (down 7%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 6%), and Titan (down 5%) were the top laggards while Bharti Airtel jumped 2 per cent. Zee Entertainment, on the other hand, dipped 10 per cent.

Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 600 points in opening trade on Monday.

After hitting a low of 30,541.97, the 30-share index was trading 581.75 points or 1.87 per cent lower at 30,577.87.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty was quoting 169.85 points, or 1,89 per cent, up at 8,942.05.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market, as they bought equity shares worth Rs 1,737.62 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.

Market remained closed on April 10 for Good Friday.

According to experts, weak cues from global markets amid concerns over mounting Covid-19 cases and spike in crude prices weakened investor sentiment.

Bourses in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul were in the red, while those in Hong Kong were trading on a positive note.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, surged 4.29 per cent to USD 32.83 per barrel after Opec producers dominated by Saudi Arabia and allies led by Russia thrashed out a compromise deal on Sunday to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day from May.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 308 on Monday after 35 new fatalities were reported, while the number of cases climbed to 9,152, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Global tally of the infections has crossed 18 lakh, with over 1 lakh deaths.