Stocks suffer virus contagion

Mumbai: The market panicked over coronavirus contagion in China’s Wuhan, the capital city of central China’s Hubei province, with 80 deaths reported so far and confirmed cases of infection being reported from other parts of the world. The Sensex fell 458 points, or 1.10 per cent, to close at 41,155 while the Nifty-50 fell 1.06 per cent, or 129.25 points, to 12,119, led by a fall in globally exposed metal stocks, financials and Tata Motors.

Most Asian markets were closed on account of lunar new year but Japanese Nikkei index fell over 2 per cent while the major European markets UK’s FTSE 100 (-2.25 per cent), French CAC (-2.41 per cent) and German Dax(-2.42 per cent) traded with deep cuts.

Crude oil price also fell in the international market with Brent crude futures trading at $58.12 per barrel around 19:30 pm IST.

The volatility index India VIX rose 10.92 per cent on Monday to close at 17.26, with twin events— the upcoming Union budget and coronavirus contagion impact on economy, are expected to raise the volatility in the market in the short-term. India VIX had risen by 10.12 per cent last week.

“India VIX has been on up move since the start of this year as market is witnessing volatility at all-time high levels. It is likely to persist as market approached into Budget this week,” Sanctum Wealth Management said.

The Nifty Metal index fell 3.09 per cent led by Jindal Steel (-5.72 per cent), SAIL (-5.00 per cent), Vedanta (-4.84 per cent), Tata Steel (-4.73 per cent), JSW Steel (-4.25 per cent) and Hindalco (-2.63 per cent).

Tata Motors, which has production and sales networks of Jaguar Landrover in China, fell 2.23 per cent on the NSE.