Market ends lower as worries persist

Mumbai: Domestic equities clocked losses for a third session in a row on Monday as worries over economic slowdown and financial impact of coronavirus outbreak continued to play in the minds of investors.

At the closing bell, the BSE gauge Sensex was down 202.05 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 41,055.69. The index swung about 390 points during the session. The NSE barometer Nifty fell 67.75 points or 0.56 per cent to close at 12,045.80.

On the Sensex chart, ONGC led the fall with a 3.20 per cent drop after the company posted halving of its December quarter net profit. Other top laggards on the index were Sun Pharma, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and HDFC -- slipping as much as 2.37 per cent.

On the other hand, Titan, Nestle, TCS, Kotak Bank and Tata Steel emerged as major gainers, rising as much as 1.86 per cent. Of the Sensex constituents, 19 closed in the red and 11 in the green.

Sectorally, oil and gas index fell the most (2.39 per cent), followed by utilities (2.07 per cent), power (1.76 per cent), realty (1.53 per cent) and healthcare (1.50 per cent). In contrast, consumer durables, IT and teck emerged as gainers. In the broader market, BSE Midcap and smallcap indices fell 0.91 per cent and 1.02 per cent, respectively.

Further weakening investor sentiment, Moody's Investors Service has slashed India's growth forecast to 5.4 per cent for 2020 from 6.6 per cent projected earlier on slower-than-expected economic recovery.

Meanwhile, worries over rising death toll and the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus continued to haunt investors globally.