Market falls on coronavirus worries

Mumbai: Indian equities fell for the second straight session on Monday in line with global markets that continued to reel under mounting death toll and economic damage from the deadly coronavirus.

At close, the BSE Sensex was down 162.23 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 40,979.62. The index swung about 373 points during the day. Likewise, the NSE gauge Nifty ended lower by 66.85 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 12,031.50.

Indices were mainly dragged lower by heavy losses in auto and metal stocks. On the Sensex chart, Mahindra and Mahindra crashed over 7 per cent, followed by other major laggards including Tata Steel (5.80 per cent), ONGC (2.84 per cent), Sun Pharma (2.39 per cent) and Hero Motocorp (2.34 per cent).

In contrast, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC, HUL and Reliance Industries closed with gains. Sectorally, among the top losers were metal (3.14 per cent) and auto (2.37 per cent) indices.

Power and consumer durables too fell 1.66 per cent and 1.64 per cent, respectively. Auto stocks were down after industry body SIAM data showed that domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 6.2 per cent in January.

While metal shares bore the brunt of growing concerns over the rising cases of coronavirus.

The industry body said that the Indian auto sector is apprehensive about coronavirus outbreak disrupting component supplies from China, but a clear picture will emerge only in the next few days after factories in the country reopen.