Sensex Crashes Over 800 Points As Rising Covid-19 Cases Spook Investors

The markets witnessed heightened volatility as futures and option contracts for the month of March were set to expire later in the day.

The Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in noon deals on the back of a broad-based selling pressure ahead of monthly expiry of March futures and option contracts. Rising Covid-19 cases across the country have sparked fears of fresh lockdowns which may impact the economic recovery, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 875 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 14,300. Selling pressure was so intense that all the 30 constituents in the Sensex and all the Nifty 50 stocks were trading with a negative bias. As of 12:32 pm, the Sensex was down 790 points at 48,390 and Nifty 50 index tumbled 229 points or 1.6 per cent to 14,319. India's daily COVID-19 cases hit a five-month high on Thursday and the country put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot made by the Serum Institute of India to meet domestic demand. "The market is definitely worried about the impact of the spread of COVID-19. There would be an economic impact and there are fears over a partial lockdown," KK Mittal, an investment adviser at Venus India told news agency Reuters.