Global selloff: Dow Jones, S&P500 plunge on oil price freefall

Mumbai: Global stock markets continued their bear run as Dow Jones and S&P500 plunged as they opened on Monday. The plunge was largely on the back of the 30 per cent overnight slump in crude oil prices, along with the persistent concerns over the impact of coronavirus on the global economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell at the opening bell on Monday, declining by more than 1,800 points. Minutes within its opening, the S&P500 plunged by 7 per cent, following which trade was halted for 15 minutes.

Trading has resumed in the indices and currently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at 24,448.02, lower by 1,416.76 points or 5.48 per cent from its previous close. The S&P500 is trading at 2,811 points, lower by 161.37 points or 5.43 per cent.

The plunge in the energy markets has severely impacted investor sentiments. Energy markets went into a free fall on Monday with oil prices across variants plunging around 30 per cent, the biggest fall since the 1991 Gulf War.

The slide comes after Saudi Arabia shocked the market by launching a price war after no consensus was arrived at between the OPEC and Russia to cut crude oil production as part of a market stabilisation exercise.

Brent crude oil reached as low as $31 per barrel on Monday, falling 30 per cent from its previous close.

The current crude oil prices are just above the decadal low of $26 a barrel in early 2016 with analysts fearing that it may touch that level soon.

The failure of the OPEC-Russia deal on production cuts has the genesis in the growing prowess of the US in the oil export market.

Indian stock markets too witnessed a bloodbath on Monday with the BSE Sensex witnessing the worst single-day fall. It closed at 35,634.95, lower by 1,941.67 points.

Earlier in the day, it had slumped by over 2,400 points.