Equity guages extend morning losses, telecom stocks dip as SC denies relief

Equity benchmark indices cracked by 3.6 per cent on Wednesday afternoon as investors worried over the economic impact of coronavirus pandemic despite broad policy measures globally.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 18 : Equity benchmark indices cracked by 3.6 per cent on Wednesday afternoon as investors worried over the economic impact of coronavirus pandemic despite broad policy measures globally.

At 12:50 pm, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 1,111 points or 3.63 per cent to 29,469 while the Nifty 50 fell by 334 points or 3.73 per cent to 8,633.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank down by 7.6 per cent, financial service by 5.1 per cent, realty by 2.7 per cent and auto by 2.4 per cent.

Shares of telecom compes suffered a sudden plunge after the Supreme Court refused further relief on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. Vodafone Idea dropped by over 31 per cent, Tata Teleservices by 4 per cent and Bharti Airtel by nearly 2 per cent.

Banking stocks too came under selling pressure. IndusInd Bank plunged by 30.38 per cent to Rs 420.60 per share while Axis Bank traded lower by 15.26 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 8.43 per cent and State Bank of India by 5.9 per cent.

The other prominent losers were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Infratel, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Grasim.

However, Yes Bank eroded morning losses but was still up by 5.4 per cent to Rs 61.85 per share as it prepared to resume operations in the evening after the moratorium on private sector lender is lifted.

The other prominent winners were IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro.

( With inputs from ANI )